Alpine and charter schools booming

When it comes to enrollment growth, Alpine School District and the charter schools are the state's hotbeds.

Alpine School District took in the most new students, or about 1,960 children, according to the Oct. 1 head count reported to the Utah Board of Education Friday. That represents 4 percent growth, and a total of 51,118 students.

Charter school enrollment also boomed.

The schools, touted as a choice for parents within the public school system, more then doubled their enrollment to 3,232 students.

Seven new charter schools opened their doors this fall, the Utah Office of Education reports.

Overall, Utah's public school enrollment is just under 487,000, an increase of 5,800 students or about 1.2 percent, said Patty Murphy, specialist in finance and auditing for the state education office.

But that's nothing.

The state office projects Utah schools will take in another 180,000 new students through 2015.

"It's going to mean a lot of new schools," Murphy said.

Enrollment projections are used to determine the amount of money Utah schools receive from the Legislature. Though this fall's projections ended up about 1,000 students short, Murphy says the state has a carryover fund that will make up the money.

And while revenue for the coming budget year has not been firmed up yet, Murphy is "pretty confident it will cover the growth we're seeing," she said.

In the past year, 14 school districts grew by between 1 percent and nearly 5 percent.

Excluding charter schools in their borders, Jordan added about 950 new students; Nebo, 820; Washington, 700; Davis, 490; and Tooele, 475. Percentage-wise, Tooele grew the most, at 4.7 percent, whereas Davis' enrollment inched up just under 1 percent.

Eleven districts, including North Summit, San Juan, Wayne and Emery, remained relatively stable, growing or shrinking by less than 1 percent.

Granite District is in that category, with an enrollment loss of 0.76 percent. But that's about 530 students — the highest student loss in the state.

Fifteen others' enrollment dipped between 1.2 percent in Box Elder to more than 9 percent in 250-student Tintic School District.

Some of the shrinking districts are in areas where charter school enrollments grew. But Murphy says the two are not necessarily related, since charter schools often draw from many school districts.

Growth is expected to pick up next year.

Next year, the state expects to add 7,100 new students — the equivalent of Iron School District, Murphy said. Growth is expected to spike in 2012, with the addition of 19,600 students, or a 3.3 percent growth.

The projected increase is attributed to Utah's birthrate, Murphy said.

Consider: In the past year, some 50,000 new babies were born to Utah mothers. Those children will hit kindergarten in 2008.

Districts are anticipating the influx and planning more buildings. Last February, for instance, voters in Jordan, the state's largest school district with 74,760 students, passed an unprecedented $281 million bond to build 22 schools.

---

E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com