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SAINT PAUL, Minn. (Jan. 11, 2024) -- After several years of four-digit declines in student enrollment, Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is starting to see its PreK-12 enrollment stabilize in the 2023-24 school year. In Minnesota, official public school enrollment is based on Oct. 1 student counts. For SPPS, that number was 33,062 students in grades PreK-12 across the district’s 69 schools. This is compared to 33,110 students in the 2022-23 school year, a difference of only 48 students.
When looking more closely at what schools and grade levels saw the biggest increases, a couple trends emerged:
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Schools with a focus on language immersion and world cultures grew. This includes:
- Adams Spanish Immersion School and Jie Ming Mandarin Immersion Academy, two longstanding language immersion elementary schools;
- LEAP High School, which serves 14- to 22-year-old students who are new to the country;
- Txuj Ci HMong Language and Culture, the district’s largest elementary school with close to 700 students; and
- East African Elementary Magnet School, a new PreK-5 school that opened this year and focuses on the cultures and languages of Somali, Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Arabic and Swahili.
Another positive trend is the size of this year’s kindergarten class. With 2,469 students, SPPS has increased the number of kindergarteners enrolled for the first time in a decade. This is a direct result of the district’s investment in pre-kindergarten above and beyond the Pre-K funding provided by the state.
“The progress we have made in stabilizing our enrollment this year did not happen by accident,” said Superintendent Joe Gothard. “As a district, SPPS has invested significant resources in providing our community with the educational options that families want and students need. This includes high-quality educational programs that respect and reflect the people we serve; and free, full-day pre-kindergarten at over 30 schools across the city.”
Prior to this school year, SPPS saw declines of between 1,000-1,500 students each year since 2019, with smaller annual declines going back to 2015. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, reasons for these declines included fewer children being born in St. Paul, changes to school start times, and increased competition from charter schools and other educational options.
Enrollment data for every year going back to 2011 is available on the SPPS Data Center.
Enrollment Push Continues
Last year, SPPS spent approximately $30,000 on advertising efforts directed toward families who were searching for a school for the 2023-24 year. This year, an additional $300,000 has been budgeted to boost enrollment at six schools that have room to grow in 2024-25. These efforts include digital and social media marketing, advertising collateral, community outreach and events.
Over 2,500 people attended the School Choice Fair at the Saint Paul RiverCentre in December to learn more about their options for the 2024-25 school year. Schools are hosting open houses and tours this month leading up to the priority enrollment deadline of Feb. 23. Families who apply by this date have the best chance of getting into the school of their choice. To date, over 1,600 applications have been submitted for next year.
SPPS continues to invest in services and curriculum that families, students and staff value, including school bus transportation, upgrades to school facilities and expansion of popular programs, including adding sixth grade to East African Magnet School and eighth grade to Txuj Ci HMong Language and Culture next year. Big renovation projects at Hidden River Middle School, Bruce Vento Elementary School and the former Obama Elementary are poised to attract families with new and improved spaces.
Families can find more information about Saint Paul Public Schools, including 2024-25 enrollment applications and upcoming school open houses, at spps.org/apply.
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