Ventura County schools lose students again, but fewer than last year

Ventura County's public school system has fewer students for the ninth school year in a row, following the county population's downward trajectory.

New data released by the state education department last week showed just under 127,000 K-12 students enrolled in the county's 20 school districts for the 2022-23 school year, the lowest number since 1995.

The roughly 1,300-student drop, 1% of last year's total enrollment, is smaller than the nearly 7,000-student loss across the two prior years. The numbers, logged annually on the first Wednesday in October, track with the state's overall 0.7% enrollment dip and with similar declines across the state.

How school enrollment and population changes compare
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Enrollment indirectly determines how much state money schools get. Under the state's attendance-based funding formula, districts can receive upwards of $9,000 per student annually . Most agencies factor enrollment projections into annual budget planning.

Cèsar Morales, superintendent of the Ventura County Office of Education, said in an emailed statement the smaller drop was "good news" in the face of high housing costs, shortages of high-paying jobs and the "lingering effects of the pandemic."

But, he added in a Thursday interview, "We're declining steadily."

A changing county

State data did indicate a 16% increase in the county's kindergarten enrollment along with a 2% increase in 11th grade enrollment.

But the huge kindergarten growth doesn't portend long-term enrollment relief. This year's kindergarten class, 1,600 students larger than last year, was bolstered by several districts lowering the age requirement for transitional kindergarten in line with a state expansion program.

The state education department currently logs transitional kindergarten enrollment in the same category as kindergarten. Morales said the county's total includes almost 3,400 transitional kindergartners, up 2,000 from last school year. The number of regular kindergartners, county data indicates, actually shrank by 5%.

The enrollment problems are consistent with data that shows the county shrinking and aging. By July 2022, the U.S. Census reported last week, the county population was below 833,000, the lowest number since at least 2013. Census data shows the smaller population is also proportionally older: only 22% of the county are children, down 3% over the last decade.

Analysts from School Services of California, a Sacramento-based consultancy, told Ventura Unified School District officials in 2021 that Ventura County would lose almost 20% of its students by 2031, the largest percentage drop of any county in the state except Los Angeles.

District-level shifts

The enrollment shifts hit differently across the county. Five K-8 school districts — Rio Elementary, Pleasant Valley, Ocean View, Mupu Elementary and Briggs Elementary — saw minor increases, along with the K-12 Simi Valley Unified, Moorpark Unified and Fillmore Unified school districts.

Ventura enrollment by district, 2015-2023
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Hani Youssef, Simi Valley's superintendent, said his district's second year of increase since 2003 was due to a "concerted effort to rebrand the district and become more competitive."

The district, Youssef said, embarked on the project in 2015 to try and stop families from transferring to neighboring districts: "We (had) lost the confidence of our community."

More: Schools compete for Ventura County's shrinking pool of students

Budget-plagued Ojai Unified, which recently approved two school closures and dozens of layoffs, saw its enrollment dip by about 2%, but Interim Superintendent Sherril Knox said the drop was less than expected. Knox said transitional kindergarten enrollment helped "soften" the blow for the year.

Oxnard Union High School District, one of the only districts in the county to see steady growth in recent years, lost students for the first time in a decade. Superintendent Tom McCoy said the high school-only district had been tracking enrollment in the K-8 districts that feed its schools and had anticipated the drop.

"It would only be of concern if we hadn't planned for it," he said, adding that the district expects slight declines for the next three to four years.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura County public schools drops in student enrollment