Amador County – Amador Unified School Board last week looked at its dwindling enrollment numbers, which have declined 13 percent since the 2002-2003 school year, but they more or less compare to area school districts.

The decline is about 600 students since the year ending in 2003, from about 4,650 students to 4,050. Trustees last week considered a report from Assistant Superintendent Tim Zearley on neighboring school districts, to answer a question from Trustee Mary Walser, to see if Amador Unified is “experiencing an anomaly” for its continued loss in enrollment, or if that was a condition shared by other districts in the region.

Zearley said ACUSD has experienced a 13 percent decline in enrollment between the school year ending in 2003, and the school year ending in 2011. In 2002-2003, Amador schools had 4,650 students, and last year had 4,050. He said “this is a drastic decline in our student population” and a cause for a shortage in school resources. He said “for us, we never saw the spike” that came with the spike in home sales, and we “just had a continuous decline.”

Zearley said of the area districts, two were experiencing growth over that time. Lodi Unified showed growth, and “Elk Grove at one time was the fastest growing school district in the country.”

Walser thanked Zearley for answering her request. She said she wanted to see how Amador and other districts compared.

Of 10 Districts polled, two showed overall growth in the last nine years. Lodi peaked in 2007 with 31,500 students, but has declined by about 1,000 students since then. Elk Grove has grown every year, except a slight dip in 2009, and has been over 62,000 enrollment since the 2007-2008 school year.

Calaveras Unified enrollment declined 9.5 percent in the nine-year sample, dropping from 3,720 to 3,380. Linden dropped by 6.3 percent since 2003, but its current 2,350 students are 15 percent below its peak year 2006-2007, with 2,750 students.

Zearley said the larger school districts were hard to compare. He also took numbers from polling some smaller, nearby elementary schools that made up their own school districts. Mother Lode Union Elementary declined 24 percent, from 1,600-plus students in 2003 to 1,200 in 2011. Gold Oak Union Elementary declined by 27 percent, from 750 to 550 students in those nine years. Both showed mostly steady declines. Placerville Union Elementary, had about 4 percent decline overall, but bottomed out in 2007-2008 with about 1,140 students, and now has 1,260.

Latrobe Unified, with about 175 students last year, had a 16 percent decline since 2003. Pioneer Union Elementary dropped from 145 students in 2003 to less than 80 in 2011.

Trustee Pat Miller said the boundaries should also be considered when comparing the districts.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.