Lawrence High has had an enrollment spike, while the size of Free State High’s student body has dipped.

Every fall, the Kansas State High School Activities Assn. assesses high school enrollments in order to determine classifications. This year’s survey was taken Sept. 20. On that date, Lawrence High had 1,349 students in grades 10 through 12, and Free State had 1,226. Those numbers reflect an 85-student increase for LHS over last year and a 48-student drop for Free State.

“I don’t know the cause of the increase,” Lawrence High athletic director Ron Commons said. “I don’t think it’s because a whole lot of new homes have been built south of 15th Street.”

Students who live north of 15th Street (Bob Billings Parkway west of Iowa Street) attend Free State High. Students who live south of that dividing line go to Lawrence High.

Free State was the city’s largest high school last year with 1,274 students, 10 more than Lawrence High. Now LHS has the larger enrollment, and the intracity gap has skyrocketed to 123 students.

“That seems to be the biggest gap other than the first year,” said Steve Grant, athletic director at Free State. “Usually it hasn’t been any bigger than 40 or 50.”

When Free State opened in 1997, Lawrence High had 392 more students, primarily because seniors who lived north of 15th Street were given the option of finishing at Lawrence High.

Both the Firebirds and the Lions remain in Class 6A, the state’s largest classification. Lawrence High has the 10th biggest enrollment in the state, up from 21st last year, while Free State has stayed No. 19 on the enrollment chart despite its loss of 48 students.

Lawrence High’s large student increase hasn’t had an effect on the football program, according to coach Dirk Wedd.

“We have the usual number out,” Wedd said. “We’re always somewhere around 60 to 83.”

Derby, a Wichita suburb, boasts the state’s largest student body at 1,517. The only change made in the state’s largest classification was Hutchinson dropping into Class 5A and being replaced by Blue Valley West.

Two Journal-World area schools – Mill Valley and Ottawa – remain in Class 5A. Mill Valley has an enrollment of 621. Ottawa is the second-smallest school in that division with 545 students. Only Kansas City Sumner Academy (536) has fewer.

Six area schools remain in Class 4A, headed by Tonganoxie with 420 students. De Soto has 347, Baldwin 342, Santa Fe Trail 305, Eudora 302 and Perry-Lecompton 239.

Wellsville, Oskaloosa and McLouth, with enrollments of 174, 144 and 130 respectively, are still in Class 3A. McLouth is the smallest school in that category.

Lawrence’s Seabury Academy stayed in Class 1A with an enrollment of 52. Veritas Christian, the city’s other high school, is not a member of the KSHSAA.