Can you afford to live in Santa Barbara? Looking at the declining school enrollment, the answer is NO. That is why so many families are moving from this County and State. Yes, Meaghan and Prince Harry can afford to live in Montecito—but few others can.
“Enrollment in the Santa Barbara Unified School District has dropped by about 2,084 students over the past decade.
On average, the district has lost about 208 students every year, according to a new enrollment report provided to the district’s trustees last week.
Santa Barbara Junior High School experienced the largest decline, 39%, over the past five years.”
Enrollment in Santa Barbara Unified School District Continues 10-Year Decline
New report to school board charts decades-long drop, averaging around 200 fewer students a year
by Joshua Molina, Noozhawk, 10/1/23 https://www.noozhawk.com/enrollment-in-santa-barbara-unified-school-district-continues-10-year-decline/
Santa Barbara Unified School District trustee Virginia Alvarez is looking for more details on and analysis of the latest enrollment declines. “Enrollment is declining statewide and locally,” she says. “It’s a significant piece of the moving parts of our annual planning.:
Enrollment in the Santa Barbara Unified School District has dropped by about 2,084 students over the past decade.
On average, the district has lost about 208 students every year, according to a new enrollment report provided to the district’s trustees last week.
Santa Barbara Junior High School experienced the largest decline, 39%, over the past five years.
“I wish I was around to be able to tell the historical context for Santa Barbara Junior High,” said ShaKenya Edison, assistant superintendent of Student Services.
Edison was hired last year to replace Frann Wageneck, who worked at the district for 21 years before retiring to start an education consulting company.
The board talked about the enrollment numbers in a rushed, nine-minute report and discussion on Tuesday night.
Board member Virginia Alvarez said at the meeting that she would like to know if the district’s staffing levels have decreased at the same rate as enrollment.
She told Noozhawk after the meeting that she is looking forward to seeing a report after staff analyzes the numbers.
“Enrollment is declining statewide and locally,” Alvarez said. “It’s a significant piece of the moving parts of our annual planning.
“Enrollment drives staffing, class sizes and some funding so we have to analyze the trends, including birth rates, new housing developments and new business that may have employment opportunities.”
Edison ran through a series of slides that showed 14,291 students enrolled in 2014-2015. At the start of this school year, enrollment was 12,207.
She said the decline is in step with Santa Barbara County and statewide numbers.
According to her presentation, enrollment in the 2014-2015 school year was 64,708 students. Going into the current school year, the number is 62,299.
California’s overall enrollment was 5,690,540 in 2014-2015, but this is year is down to 5,166,991.
Locally over the past five years, Franklin School, at 1111 E. Mason St., dropped to 436 students from 539; Adams School, 2701 Las Positas Road, fell to 491 from 592; and Cleveland School, 123 Alameda Padre Serra, declined to 252 from 341.
Roosevelt School, 1990 Laguna St., dropped to 478 students from 595 over the past five years, and Washington School, 290 Lighthouse Road, fell to 485 from 606.
“Overall, if we are comparing the elementaries’ enrollment from 2019 until now, they range from 3% to a 29% decrease,” Edison said.
Enrollment at Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 E. Cota St., plummeted to 504 students from 804. La Cumbre Junior High, 2255 Modoc Road, dropped to 449 from 533.
Goleta Valley and La Colina junior highs recorded only slight declines — Goleta Valley, at 6100 Stow Canyon Road, to 739 from 784 and La Colina, at 4025 Foothill Road, to 895 from 911.
At the high schools, only Dos Pueblos High, 7266 Alameda Ave., grew its enrollment, to 2,079 this year from 1,988 in 2019.
Enrollment at San Marcos High, 4750 Hollister Ave., declined to 1,947 from 2,043 over the past five school years. Santa Barbara High, 700 E. Anapamu St., fell to 2,050 from 2,154.
Alvarez said many factors could be at play.
“There could be a correlation with Santa Barbara being such an expensive place to live with not many big employers, or affordable housing,” Alvarez said.
“All of these factors make it hard for families to live here.”
Board president Wendy Sims-Moten said California’s high cost of living, changing demographics and the COVID-19 pandemic also could be factors.
“Despite the challenges of declining enrollment, we keep our focus of every child, every chance every day,” she said.
Note the BLM sign in the classroom in this photo. My family attends school in Santa Barbara and notices the BLM and Pride flags in the classrooms. They question what those flags have to do with education. Also, the demographics are about 50% Hispanic. Many wonder how they can afford the area.
Looks like the perfect environment for Marxism, which is what it is. And they said history won’t repeat itself. It is currently becoming a communist country and has been under siege for decades with help from the progressive, Marxist party of hate, the party who originated the KKK, the party who screams for tolerance, aligns with disturbing child sexual grooming, the party who hates America, the party of the DNC. Anyone who sends their children to a “government institution” will raise a sheep who will follow the herd. Every wonder where all the proceeds go from the lottery as the millions and close to one billion where a portion is to go to education?
Wonder how many are homeschooling?