(This post originally appeared on the Even Better Eastern Carver County Schools Facebook page on April 26, 2019)
I asked the district for (and received) updated data on district enrollment trends. Enrollment TrendsIn the 2017-18 school year, there were 12,140 K-12 students living within district boundaries. 9,176 of those students (75.6%) enrolled in ECCS. That percentage is consistent with the 10-year trend (which ranges between 75.4% and 76.3%). Of the 2,964 resident students who did not enroll, 1,657 of them (55.9%) open-enrolled to another public school district or attended a charter school. The trend on this metric shows a distinct shift away from private and home schools and towards other public and charter schools — in the 2008-09 school year, only 717 of 2,692 not enrolling students selected another public school district or charter school (26.6%).Open enrollment into the district from other public schools has increased over the last decade, from 187 in 2008-09 to 394 in 2017-18, but the net outflow is still strong. In 2017-18, there were 1,263 more students that chose public/charter options outside the district than outside students who came in.
Where are the students going to/coming from?The most current year for which this data exists is 2016-17, and it only exists for public and charter school enrollments. The totals do not match the totals from above, because they are based on an average daily enrollment over the entire school year.In 2016-17, the largest movement of students was to the Minnetonka School District. 754 students open-enrolled out of ECCS to Minnetonka, while just 28 students from Minnetonka open-enrolled into ECCS, a net outflow of 726 students. The basic K-12 education formula in 2016-17 was $6,067 per pupil, which means that the net outflow of dollars to Minnetonka alone was $4.4 million.
Even Better Eastern Carver County Schools 