enrollment

What accounted for the extraordinary net decrease in public school students? A cursory review of the data offers few patterns or common characteristics of note.

Does the current budget impasse between the N.C. General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper feel different? It should.  There is less of a sense of crisis even though the decisions…

Last week, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction published the final enrollment numbers for the 2016-17 school year.  Overall, there was a nearly 4,500-student or 0.3 percent year-to-year decrease in…

Earlier this week, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction published the final 2015-16 student counts for all district and charter schools.  I used Average Daily Membership (ADM) data to…

RALEIGH — It’s impossible for North Carolina’s public charter schools to pursue racial and ethnic enrollment targets, thanks to conflicting sections of state law. That’s the key finding in a…

A state law that mandates racial/ethnic balance for charter schools contradicts another law that requires charter schools to use an enrollment lottery when applicants outnumber available seats. It is impossible for charter schools to use random (lottery) and non-random (affirmative action) student selection mechanisms simultaneously.

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s public schools have added administrators, consultants, and other nonclassroom staffers faster than they’ve added students this decade. That’s a key finding in a new John Locke…

North Carolina’s public schools continue to add administrative, non-instructional, and instructional support positions at rates that far exceed enrollment growth. Since 2000, North Carolina’s public school student enrollment (Average Daily Membership) has increased by approximately 13 percent, while school personnel has increased by nearly 18 percent. North Carolina’s pupil/staff ratio decreased from nearly 8:1 in 2003 to just over 7:1 in 2006.

RALEIGH – In the last eight years, North Carolina public schools have increased in personnel by 19 percent, a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight shows. Even school districts that are…

Neither enrollment increases nor federal and state mandates can account for the 19 percent increase in school personnel over the last eight years. The glut of public school personnel hiring is evident in counties that have a declining student population. Despite losing nearly 10,000 students in eight years, these school districts added 819 employees. This shows that school districts actively maintain their bureaucracy even as the amount of work declines.