photo by: YouTube screenshot

Lawrence school board members met on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.

Lawrence school board members reviewed data on Monday showing that more than 2,100 students entered or left the district last year and that showed class sizes for middle and high schools in 2025-2026.

As the Journal-World reported, the Lawrence school district’s enrollment this school year is 2% lower than the last school year – and comparable to the number of students more than two decades ago. The district’s enrollment was 10,148 students, with 9,337 enrolled in in-person K-12 classes, 260 preschool students and 551 students in the Lawrence Virtual School.

James Polk, director of data and assessment, shared additional enrollment data on Monday. He said the district’s mobility rate for 2024-2025, which measures the percentage of K-12 students who move in and out of the district, was 21%. The rate is calculated by dividing those students by the total K-12 student population that school year.

A new statewide law known as the Kansas school district choice law went into effect last school year. It mandates open enrollment statewide to allow families to move their children from schools that aren’t meeting their needs. While many school districts already allowed out of district student transfers, according to the presentation at Monday’s meeting, the number of students that entered the district in 2024-2025 was 1,119, and the number of students that left was 1,079.

The presentation also outlined some of the most common reasons why students entered or left the district. The district reported that 538 students transferred into the Lawrence school district from another Kansas public school, while 234 came from public schools outside the state. An additional 95 students arrived from outside the country, 44 entered after being homeschooled, and 171 transferred from accredited or non-accredited private schools.

Meanwhile, 471 students left the district for another Kansas public school, 258 moved to public schools in other states, 74 enrolled in schools outside the country, 57 left to be homeschooled, and 120 transferred to accredited or non-accredited private schools.

A total of 513 students — about 5% of the district’s enrollment–live outside the Lawrence school district’s boundaries. Of those, 121 attend in-person and 392 are enrolled in the Lawrence Virtual School.

Monday’s presentation on projected class sizes was the second for the 2025-2026 school year — this time focusing on the district’s middle and high schools. At the last November meeting, district staff presented elementary class sizes along with a comprehensive overview of enrollment for the upcoming year.

This month, the board learned that in middle school, English/language arts, math, science, and social studies classes each average 25 students.

High school class sizes vary slightly by subject: English/language arts classes average 24 students, math classes average 26, science classes average 25, and social studies classes also average 26 students.

New preschool classrooms

As a part of efforts to expand early education opportunities in the Lawrence school district, preschool classrooms will be coming to Prairie Park and Deerfield elementary schools in the 2026-2027 school year.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift made the announcement on Monday evening during the meeting with school board members. As the Journal-World reported, the district has been working toward expanding preschool offerings into Lawrence neighborhood schools and added classrooms at Sunflower and Woodlawn elementary schools this school year.

“We’re listening to our community and aligning our system to better serve students,” Swift said. ” … They will be beautiful locations to continue our early childhood expansion work that we began this year at Sunflower and Woodlawn. Those programs are going along beautifully already.”

Swift said these additional classrooms will bring the total number of preschool locations to six schools.

Preschool enrollment in the district has increased by almost 20% this school year, and Polk previously said that part of the increase is due to the new classrooms at Sunflower and Woodlawn and working to meet community child care needs. This year’s 260 total preschool students are up from 220 last year.

In other business, school board members:

• Approved an estimated cost of $142,392 to Zipco Contracting Inc. for remediation and repair work at Lawrence High School after a fire occurred in the girls’ locker room in September, including $56,662 for fire remediation and $85,730 for repairs.

No students or staff were harmed during the incident, but students and staff were asked to evacuate the school. The district shared in a message to the community that the fire originated at a paper towel dispenser that extended into a combustible trash receptacle below. Limited details were shared on how the fire started and how much damage was done. Two Lawrence High students were arrested for aggravated arson following the incident.

• Approved the audit for the 2024-2025 school year, ending in June 30, 2025. According to a letter to board members from auditing consultant Gordon CPA LLC, the district’s financial statements were prepared in accordance with accepted accounting principles. The district started the school year with $62,104,630 in its unencumbered cash balances and ended with $72,978,694. The total amount the district received for the year was $256,304,242, with expenditures of $245,430,178.

• Updated a lease agreement with SumnerONE Inc. for printers and walk-up devices for the period of Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2031 at an annual cost not to exceed $297,806. In May 2024, the school board extended leases on the district’s high-production printers and 112 walk-up devices, delaying replacement because walk-up usage had dropped during the pandemic and the machines had not reached their replacement thresholds.

Those leases were going to end Dec. 31, 2025, and the district wants to replace the remaining printers and walk-up devices, along with their supporting software with the newest version of its current printer line. The new lease will cost $24,817 per month — 2.1% less than the current $25,339 — and includes lower per-click and maintenance costs.

• Entered into a multiyear service contract with Logicalis Inc. at a cost of $5,000 per month to help support the district’s technology department in maintaining reliable, secure, and efficient IT services. This contract would provide continuity while the district continues its search for a replacement for the department’s network engineer.

• Approved a contract with Tech Electronics for the purchase and installation of a new fire alarm system for Cordley Elementary School in the amount of $48,000. According to the agenda, the current system is outdated and making repairs increasingly difficult.

• Purchased football uniforms for Lawrence High School in an amount up to $47,000 from BSN Sports LLC. LHS football is due for new home and away uniforms under the school’s rotation cycle. The home set is quoted at $21,312 and the away set at $21,194. An 11% contingency of $4,492 is also included in the cost for future growth, replacements and wear.

• Did not include public comment on Monday’s meeting agenda. Board president GR Gordon-Ross told the Journal-World via email “Public Comment wasn’t on the agenda because Board Leadership chose not to include it for this meeting.” He did not give a reason for that decision.