photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Eudora school district offices, 1310 Winchester Road in Eudora.

Douglas County school districts saw mixed enrollment trends this year, as some gained students while others continued to face declines amid a statewide trend of declining enrollment.

Kansas has an enrollment count day where school districts take a student head count to determine state funding for schools. The count day is traditionally on Sept. 20, but in 2025, it was on Monday, Sept. 22 since the 20th was on a Saturday.

School districts throughout the state have experienced losses in enrollment due to a long-term decline in the school-aged population, driven by falling birth rates. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp, temporary drop, and some districts have struggled to rebound. For example, from the 2018-2019 school year to 2024-2025, the Lawrence school district’s enrollment has dropped by over 1,000 students.

The Journal-World reached out to all of the school districts in Douglas County for their unaudited count data submitted to the state on the count day. Each of the districts – Eudora, Baldwin City and Perry-Lecompton – responded to the inquiry with enrollment figures. Meanwhile, Lawrence is working a little differently and completing the audit on its student enrollment with the state before sharing the data in November.

Here are the unaudited enrollment numbers from the county’s school districts:

• Eudora school district – The district has 1,753 students enrolled in its pre-K-12 and virtual programs. This includes 126 students in the Eudora Early Learning Center – a preschool for children ages 3 and 4, 659 students in elementary school (grades K-5), 384 middle school students (grades 6-8), 569 high school students (grades 9-12) and 15 virtual students.

For the 2024-2025 school year, Eudora had 1,619 students enrolled after the audit was completed, so the district counted an additional 134 students this year.

• Baldwin City school district – The district serves a total of 1,371 students. There are 640 elementary and pre-K students (grades pre-K-5), 297 junior high students (grades 6-8), and 434 high school students (grades 9-12).

In the 2024-2025 school year, Baldwin City had 1,411 students following the state’s audit, meaning the district counted 40 less students this year.

• Perry-Lecompton school district – The district serves a total of 728 students across K-12 and virtual programs. This includes 229 elementary students (grades K-4), 237 middle school students (grades 5-8), 247 high school students (grades 9-12), 14 virtual students and one student enrolled at the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science at Fort Hays State University. When including preschool enrollment, the district’s total student population rises to 778.

For the 2024-2025 school year, 744 students were enrolled, not including pre-school students – a decrease in enrollment of 16 students. With pre-school students, the total number of students last school year was 789 after the state’s audit.

“The main cause of our enrollment reduction is a graduating class of 69 and an incoming Kindergarten class of 39 or a difference of 30 students,” Superintendent Josh Woodward said. “We did have some students transfer out to other districts, but even more students transferred into USD 343.”

Lawrence school district

Superintendent Jeanice Swift said in an email to the Journal-World that confirming the number of students attending school in the Lawrence school district has been a process that extends beyond the count day through the month of October. She said that the district will release the data after the audit is complete from Oct. 27 through Nov. 7.

“In a larger, more complex district such as Lawrence, there are many variables at play impacting student enrollment numbers, including preschool enrollment; those students who may be attending to receive special education services only vs. full-time student enrollment; students who many be enrolled part-time; adult education and diploma completion programming; online students; and etc.,” Swift said.

photo by: Screenshot

The number of students expecting to attend the Lawrence school district for the 2025-2026 school year.

Enrollment in the Lawrence school district has dropped by 1,571 students between the 2018-2019 and 2024-2025 school years — from 11,929 to 10,358 — but data shared in April showed a 6% increase in preschool enrollment for 2024-2025, as the Journal-World reported. For the 2025-2026 school year, the district projected 4,189 elementary, 2,197 middle, and 3,105 high school students for the 2025-2026 school year — figures that were all lower than last year’s enrollment.

Swift said the district currently has set the presentation of the fall enrollment data for the Nov. 17 school board meeting. While the Lawrence data won’t be available until next month, Swift said the enrollment in Lawrence Public School remains “stable and consistent throughout our schools.”

“There are bright spots in program enrollment increases such as the increase in preschool students that we have highlighted over recent weeks as well as across other programs and schools,” Swift said.