Thanks to its new virtual school, the Lawrence school district can give the Kansas State Department of Education an official head count showing a growing student population for the first time since 1999.

But while enrollment increased, the size of the traditional student body declined for the fifth consecutive year.

School districts statewide were required to do an official head count Monday. The tally is used to determine how much state aid each district receives.

Including preschool students and those enrolled in the district’s diploma-completion program, Lawrence schools had enrollment this year of 10,228. That’s a 2 percent increase from last year’s enrollment of 10,022.

The increase is attributed to the popularity of the new Lawrence Virtual School, which enrolled 167 students. The charter school offers online courses for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, making it attractive to families that home-school their children.

“We met our projection, and with the virtual school we exceeded our projection,” said Supt. Randy Weseman of the district’s head count.

The district’s regular schools had a total of 9,946 students Monday. The district had projected there would be 9,683 students this year in kindergarten through 12th grade.

More pupils, more money

The increased enrollment will mean more state aid. The current base state aid is $3,863 per student. But how much the district will see is questionable.

Rather than basing its student population on the regular head count, the district had been using the state’s option of averaging enrollment from the three previous years so schools wouldn’t feel the full effect of declining state aid, Weseman said.

The Lawrence school district has seen an enrollment increase this year, bucking a four-year trend. Hannah Vanmeter, center, a sixth-grader at Prairie Park School, practices a chord on her clarinet during band practice. Vanmeter and her classmates Cassie Jo Morrison, left, and Aspen Jefferson practiced Monday at the school, 2711 Kensington Road.

“There’s not a windfall of money,” he said. “Even if enrollment had gone up another hundred kids … we wouldn’t have shown a huge increase in dollars.”

He said most of the additional funds would go to the virtual school, which should receive about $600,000 in state aid.

If virtual school students were subtracted from the 9,946 combined total of kindergarten through 12th grade, the district would have 9,779 students enrolled. That’s 38 fewer students than last year’s 9,817. The decrease in traditional students, however, is minor compared with the loss of about 200 students last year.

“We’ve seen a pretty steep decline in the last three years, and those are not there,” Weseman said. “So, we’re holding steady in what I would term the traditional enrollment.”

Weseman has long believed the Lawrence school district’s enrollment decline is based upon three things: home schools, private schools and economics.

“We have a peaking home-school enrollment, which apparently we may be impacting a little bit with the virtual school,” he said.

Private enrollment up

6News video: School headcount shows enrollment ‘holds steady’ Randy Weseman, part 1 Randy Weseman, part 2 Randy Weseman, part 3 Randy Weseman, part 4 Randy Weseman, part 5 Virtual school enrolls 165 (8-24-04) School enrollment rebounds (8-17-04) 6News video: Preliminary school enrollment figures show jump (8-16-03) Enrollment down again, but crowding remains (08-19-03)

Enrollment figures at area private schools have steadily increased over the years as they have added more grades.

This is the first year Veritas Christian School will have a senior class graduating. And Bishop Seabury Academy also is reporting a full school.

“This is the first year we have had full classes in every grade,” said Chris Carter, Bishop Seabury headmaster.

Carter said the school was drawing students from Lawrence and nearby towns, including Eudora, Baldwin, Perry and Lecompton.

Weseman said while private schools and home schooling might reduce the district’s totals, he thinks it’s good people have education options for their children.

Housing’s effects

Weseman said he also thought the district was losing students to surrounding communities with lower housing costs.

The average cost for a single-family home in Lawrence in July was $174,773, according to a Douglas County appraiser’s report. In Baldwin, the average sale price for the same time period was $144,671.

But Baldwin Supt. Jim White said his district wasn’t seeing the increase in student population he would have expected given the town’s booming housing market.

The Baldwin district’s head count Monday was 1,386 students, or 13 more than last year. White said the growth was at the secondary level.

“It’s unusual,” he said. “Usually when you see new houses going in, you expect the growth to be in the elementary range. But that hasn’t been the case.”