This month’s College Station school board meeting included a biannual report from the district’s demographer.
Bob Templeton says there were 212 fewer students in CSISD during the fall semester compared with projections. The decrease was in pre-K and elementary grades.
Templeton says some parents who chose not to enroll about 200 children children in pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade classes this year will bring them back next year. He expects CSISD could add more than 500 students next year.
Templeton says lower numbers in public and charter schools was primarily due to elementary students moving to home schools.
Templeton is expecting CSISD to have 1800 more students in the next five years. He says that will be driven by new home construction, which he says has not slowed down during the pandemic.
He reported CSISD has nearly 1,200 lots available to build on, and within CSISD there are more than 4,100 planned future lots.
He forecasts CSISD in the next three to five years will close roughly 350 to 500 new single family homes and 180 to 480 multi-family units on an annual basis.
While CSISD enrollment was down about two percent, Templeton says enrollment in the fastest growing school districts was down between five and six percent.
Statewide, the pandemic is projected to be responsible for a drop of more than 200,000 public school students during the fall semester. Before the pandemic, Templeton said Texas was adding 60,000 to 80,000 students a year.
Click below for comments from Bob Templeton during the December 15, 2020 CSISD school board meeting.