KENOSHA – Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) has finalized the state-mandated Third Friday enrollment count. The initial count shows an enrollment of 21,929 students, a decrease of 332 students when compared to the 2015-2016 Third Friday count of 22,261.
Each September, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requires districts to gather and report an enrollment headcount of students receiving primary educational services from the district on the third Friday of the month.
This number is used by the state to determine state revenue limits, which is the amount of funding KUSD is entitled to receive from general state aid and local tax levies.
This overall enrollment decrease was expected as Kenosha Unified continues to experience the effects of a significant decrease in community birth rates that began in 2009-10. Both 2010 and 2011 reported over 200 less births compared to previous years.
This trend is now impacting the early grades of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and grade 1, which had a noticeable decrease of 170 students when compared to last year.
The decrease of 179 students at grade 9 is mainly due to an unusually small 8thgrade class in 2015-16. The Kenosha School of Technology Enhanced Curriculum (KTEC) had the anticipated largest growth of any KUSD school (+147 students) over last year, as they continue their gradual expansion at their KTEC-West campus.
With just shy of 22,000 students, Kenosha Unified is expected to retain its status as the third largest district in the state, trailing Milwaukee Public Schools and the Madison Metropolitan School District.
