Eden Prairie Schools is expected to reach its highest enrollment in at least 10 years, with recent projections showing more than 9,000 students enrolled.
At a school board workshop Monday, Superintendent Josh Swanson and communications director Dirk Tedmon presented an early report on projected enrollment totals. No votes were taken, but another preliminary report is scheduled for Sept. 22, with the official child count set for Oct. 1.
This year’s enrollment projection for K-12 students was 8,890, slightly lower than last year’s final total of 8,923. But as numbers continue to come in, district officials say enrollment is higher at every grade level in every school than first expected, leading to a revised estimate of more than 9,000 students.
The number of enrollment applications has also been high this year, according to Tedmon and the report. The district received 953 applications between June and the first week of September, including 482 in August alone – up from 430 a year earlier.
“We’re really proud of that number and it is, again, a lot of intentional work across a number of areas,” Tedmon said at Monday’s meeting.
The district does not yet know what is driving the increase, but officials plan to analyze several factors. Those include new housing developments, the economic impact of private school costs that may drive parents toward public schools, and the effectiveness of EP Schools’ marketing and communications efforts.
The district’s final enrollment report, based on the Oct. 1 child count, will be presented at the Oct. 27 school board meeting.
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