MILTON — The Milton School District’s enrollment remains steady compared to a year ago, according to an annual student count done in mid-January.
The count done on the second Friday in January is mandated by the state of Wisconsin, much like one done annually on the third Friday in September.
On the second Friday in January, Milton counted a total of 3,437 students, down from 3,440 at the same time last year.
Overall, that is a net gain of 61 students since 2012-13 when the second Friday count was 3,376.
There have been sharper decreases and increases in the past 10 years.
In the last decade, the district has seen six different times in which it had a year-to-year January increase or decrease of at least 25 students.
Enrollment fell to 3,372 in 2013-14 and then it dropped further to 3,353 in 2014-15. And then it rose to 3,437 in 2015-16, rose again to 3,463 in 2016-17 and to 3,495 in 2017-18.
And then, there was a sharp decline to 3,470 in 2018-19. In the 2019-2020 January count, the last one before the pandemic, enrolled dropped again to 3,424. And in 2020-21, the district added 57 students to bring its January enrollment up to 3,481, before falling to 3,440 last year.
Milton Superintendent Rich Dahman said changes of up to about 80 students or even 100 can be attributed to different-sized graduating classes and incoming kindergarten classes.
“As an example, we graduated 252 students in 2021 and then we brought in 232 kindergarten students, so those changes are not that much in the big picture,” Dahman said.
School breakdownThe Consolidated Elementary count was 84, unchanged from September. Harmony Elementary’s was also unchanged at 256. East Elementary’s count was up four to 374 and West Elementary’s count was up six to 275.
The Northside Intermediate count was 1,648, up from September when it was 1,642. The highest number of students was in fifth-grade at 230. Sixth-grade had 218 and fourth-grade had 211.
The middle school had 462 students, down two from 464 in September. Seventh-grade had the higher total of students of the two grades with 236. Eighth-grade had 226.
The high school had 947 students, two fewer than in September. Tenth-grade had the highest number of students with 239. At the high school level, all grades except ninth lost students from the third Friday in September count.
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