The Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) student enrollment has been decreasing for a few years. Currently, the enrollment stands at 183,884 – down by 6,000 students from the 2022-2023 school year and approximately 26,000 from the 210,000 enrolled in 2019 during pre-pandemic times, according to data obtained by the Houston Defender through a public information request to HISD.
HISD student enrollment numbers
Moreover, Black/African American student enrollment in HISD has also been on a steady decline from the school years 2017-2018 to 2022-2023. HISD lost around 10,000 Black/African American students – from the 2017-2018 school year.
Black/African American student enrollment in HISD
HISD is yet to send the data to the Texas Education Agency. The district intends to submit the data on Dec. 7 and is in the process of checking it.
The number of students in this school year represents those who enrolled on Snapshot, an overview of public education in Texas at the state and district levels. The data is collected on the last Friday in October every year.
What the student enrollment drop could mean for HISD
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Since the TEA takeover of HISD in the summer, teachers, parents, and community members have protested against the impact it has had on the students of HISD. Most recently, they demanded an end to the state takeover in Austin, voicing concerns about the changes Superintendent Mike Miles has brought about in the district. Simultaneously, Miles maintains his stance that his goals outlined in Destination 2035 through a ‘wholescale systemic reform’ will bridge the achievement gap and equip students for an evolving workforce.
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According to local reporting, schools under Miles’ New Education System, which comprises 85 schools undergoing rigorous changes to improve academic performance, saw a dip in daily attendance. Student attendance went down by 2,090 students from the same time last year, while attendance dropped by 225 in non-NES schools. With a student enrollment decline, it is yet to be determined how attendance will be affected this school year.
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The drop in enrollment can indicate a reduction in state and other sources of funding next year. A bulk of more than 72% of HISD’s operating budget comes from property taxes paid by local homeowners and businesses, and unlike the City of Houston, HISD gets no money from sales taxes. Moreover, HISD receives 23.4% of its cash from the state, overseen by the Texas Education Agency.
The formula followed by the program takes into account attendance calculations before disbursing funds to school districts. The remaining 4% comes from donations, fees, interest income, and other miscellaneous sources. The school funding formula considers Average Daily Attendance (ADA). For example, if a school has a 100% ADA, it will receive 100% of its basic budget allocation. Similarly, a lower ADA will mean a lower budget allocation.
The state provides districts with a $6,160 base funding per student, which has not changed since 2019. More funding is allocated toward “weighted student units,” including student populations with a higher need for educational resources like those classified as at-risk, economically disadvantaged, or bilingual and those enrolled in special education, gifted and talented, and career and technology programs.
Campuses with very low student enrollments receive the “small school subsidy” to maintain the level of service seen in larger campuses. Thus, the recent dip in student enrollment can impact the fiscal fallout in the whole school district. -
HISD is spending about $250 million more than it receives in revenue from its $900 million reserve funds this year. The HISD Board of Managers had also unanimously voted to approve Miles’ $2.2 billion budget for the school year in June. Miles’ budget for the year, which claims not to access HISD’s reserves, may still be affected by the loss of 6,000 students.
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While Miles said there will be no HISD school closures this year, and HISD further stated closures will not be initiated until the 2024 school year, around 50 community members held a protest in September, acting on their concerns about two NES Aligned schools – Cage Elementary and Project Chrysalis Middle – shutting down. The decline in student enrollment could increase the possibility of school mergers and closures.
“The district is in the worst shape I’ve ever seen it in,” said Michelle Williams, president of the Houston Education Association. “Teachers leaving, and our enrollment is down. I’ve never seen that in the history of HISD. One of the elementary schools in the Kashmere Gardens area has 10 kids per classroom, and then I was told that he’s [Miles] not allowing children who are not zoned to those schools [feeder patterns], you can’t attend them.”
