Enrollment numbers down for public schools

The super-majority of public schools in Oklahoma saw a decrease in enrollment when compared to last school year, including all four school districts in Logan County. For the state, it is the first decrease in 19 years for overall enrollment.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), data shows 694,113 students enrolled in Pre-K through 12th grade for 2020-21, a decline of 9,537, or about 1% from last year’s total.

“This pandemic has presented a multitude of challenges, and lower early childhood enrollment numbers tell us we will need to heighten our focus on early learning opportunities and strategic interventions to ensure these children have the prerequisite skills needed for reading and math,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister said.

Guthrie Public Schools has seen 869 fewer students (nearly 25%) this school year compared to a year ago. According to the data, 2,623 students enrolled this year compared to 3,492 last school year.

Enrollment for each school building, includes Central (166), Cotteral (233), Charter Oak (285), Fogarty (300), Guthrie Upper Elementary School (358), Junior High (436) and High School (845).

Coyle Public Schools was down 17% with 257 students this year compared to last year’s 310.

Mulhall-Orlando Public Schools is down 22 students with 206 this school year.

Crescent Public Schools had a slight dip of five students with 552 enrolled this school year.

Virtual schools saw a big jump in enrollment because of the pandemic, including a school based out of Guthrie.

eSchool Virtual Charter Academy, an online state-wide public school, saw a whopping 2,122.73% increase from a year ago.

In their second year of existence, eSchool has an enrollment of 978 students. In their first year, the online school had 44 students.

eSchool is currently the sixth largest virtual school with Epic Charter School leading the way with 35,731 students.