Why South Dakota's public, private K-12 schools each lost more than 300 students this year

Morgan Matzen, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·3 min read

Enrollment in South Dakota’s public and private K-12 schools shrunk by more than 600 students this school year, according to the South Dakota Department of Education’s fall 2023 headcount enrollment numbers released within the last week.

The student census counts students enrolled more than 49% of the school day in each district on the last Friday in September. Census counts differ from state aid fall enrollment, which includes all of the students for whom a district is financially responsible.

Public K-12 enrollment shrunk by 316 students to a total of 137,759 students this fall, down from 138,075 students last year. Private K-12 enrollment in South Dakota also shrunk by 327 students this year to a total of 14,741 students, down from 15,068 students last year.

2022 enrollment report: South Dakota schools grew by more than 600 students this year. What districts saw the most?

Nancy Van Der Weide, a public information specialist with the DOE, said there are likely multiple reasons why both public and private K-12 enrollment were down this fall, including attendance patterns “coming out of (the) COVID-19 years” and a rise in homeschooling.

Alternative instruction and homeschool enrollment numbers for this fall will be released mid-January.

The state’s largest public K-12 school district, Sioux Falls, grew by 84 students this year, from 24,274 last year to 24,358 this year.

After Sioux Falls, the four next-largest public K-12 school districts in the state are Rapid City Area (12,337 students), Harrisburg (6,061 students), Brandon Valley (4,957 students) and Aberdeen (4,265 students), respectively.

Race data from the DOE shows Sioux Falls’ racial diversity grew 1.4% this year, close to estimates the district made in October.

More: Report: More than 43% of students, almost 5% of staff in Sioux Falls School District are diverse

About 56.8%, or 13,838, of the district’s students are white, while about 43.2% or 10,520 students are non-white, including 3,789 Latino, 3,111 Black, 1,854 multiracial, 1,144 Indigenous, 589 Asian and 33 Pacific Islander students.

Sioux Falls’ neighboring public K-12 school districts saw the following enrollment changes this year:

  • Baltic shrunk by 26 students, from 574 in 2022 to 548 this year.

  • Brandon Valley grew by 33 students, from 4,924 in 2022 to 4,957 this year.

  • Canton grew by six students, from 874 in 2022 to 880 this year.

  • Dell Rapids shrunk by nine students, from 982 in 2022 to 973 this year.

  • Garretson grew by 11 students, from 438 in 2022 to 449 this year.

  • Harrisburg grew by 173 students, from 5,888 in 2022 to 6,061 this year.

  • Lennox shrunk by 10 students, from 1,151 in 2022 to 1,141 this year.

  • Parker shrunk by 22 students, from 481 in 2022 to 459 this year.

  • Tea grew by 119 students, from 2,289 in 2022 to 2,408 this year.

  • Tri-Valley shrunk by 13 students, from 945 in 2022 to 932 this year.

  • West Central shrunk by four students, from 1,413 in 2022 to 1,409 this year.

Here’s how Sioux Falls’ largest private K-12 school systems grew this year:

  • Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools, the largest private school system in the state, shrunk by three students, from 2,194 in 2022 to 2,191 in 2023.

  • Sioux Falls Christian School, the second-largest private school system in the state, grew by 23 students, from 1,346 in 2022 to 1,369 in 2023.

  • Sioux Falls Lutheran grew by 72 students, from 219 in 2022 to 291 this year.

Sioux Falls’ smaller private K-12 schools and its special education partners saw the following student counts this year:

  • 131 students at East Dakota Educational Cooperative

  • 110 students at Children’s Home Society

  • 99 students at Lifescape

  • 52 students at Good Shepherd Lutheran School

  • 45 students at Westside Christian School

  • 41 students at McCrossan Boys Ranch

  • 28 students at Bethel Lutheran School

  • Six students at Southeastern

  • Three students at Baan Dek Montessori

  • One student at CHOICES - VOA Dakotas

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Department of Education fall 2023 enrollment report