Yesterday was the first day of school in our nation's capital and only 37,000 students showed up for the big day. That's a 17 percent drop from the end-of-year audit conducted last spring; those projections calculated DCPS should expect 44,681 as a final tally (enrollment numbers are not usually finalized for a few weeks while students trickle in at the last minute).
DCPS' enrollment numbers have been dropping for years, so these new stats are no surprise. But there are two new twists. 1. The low numbers mean DCPS administrators are courting parents at BBQs and community events, picking up the long-time tactics of charter school operators, who must recruit their own pupils. And 2. Rhee may wind up losing some funding if approximately 7,000 kids don't trickle in over the next few weeks (the final count is taken Oct 1). Last spring, the DC Council was not convinced DCPS would get the numbers Rhee predicted (41,541), and wanted to hold some funding back until September. In the end, they agreed to use last year's prediction, the aforementioned 44,681, but it turns out the Council was right after all. As DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray told the??Washington Post, "I do doubt the likelihood of getting 7,681 enrolled between now and the first of October."
