MCS Enrollment Dips--With no End in Sight

MIDDLEBURGH - After hitting a plateau last year, Middleburgh Central School saw a dip for the new school year, and it does not look like it will change for the foreseeable future.

The enrollment for the 2025-26 school year, which is subject to daily changes as students come in and out of the district, reached only 650 in the early part of October. Enrollment was 656 for the last two school years, a decrease of 1.4 percent.

Enrollment has seen a steady drop for more than a decade and with smaller incoming classes, the decrease in students will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

The official enrollment day for New York State school districts was on October 1, known as BEDS Day, Superintendent Mark Place informed school board members at this month's school board meeting.

Middleburgh enrollment has been on a decline for the last several years, with the biggest drop after the pandemic.

Total enrollment totals over the last nine years are:

* This year: 650.

* 2024-25: 656.

* 2023-24: 656.

* 2022-23: 675.

* 2021-22: 689.

* 2020-21: 671.

* 2019-20: 732.

* 2018-19: 748.

* 2017-18: 759.

These totals include all students in the elementary school, secondary school, out-of-district students, and Distance Learning students.

For the current school year, there are 27 out-of-district or homebound students, compared to 24 last year and 21 the year before. Also, there are 24 students in the Cooperative Virtual Learning Academy students (in other districts), compared to 20 last year and 26 the year before. There are 11 Distance Learning students (also from other districts), compared to 30 last year and 16 the year before.

Enrollment totals in the elementary school are:

* This year: 341.

* 2024-25: 346.

* 2023-24: 343

* 2022-23: 355.

* 2021-22: 368.

* 2020-21: 337.

* 2019-20: 385.

* 2018-19: 399.

* 2017-18: 385.

In the high school:

* This year: 282.

* 2024-25: 286.

* 2023-24: 295.

* 2022-23: 296.

* 2021-22: 298.

* 2020-21: 310.

* 2019-20: 320.

* 2018-19: 325.

* 2017-18: 353.

The enrollment by grade are (this year first, 2024-25 second):

* Pre-K: 33, 33.

* Kindergarten: 42, 32.

* First: 35, 45.

* Second: 45, 44.

* Third: 40, 46.

* Fourth: 48, 39.

* Fifth: 40, 42.

* Sixth: 41, 48.

* Seventh: 50, 44.

* Eighth: 44, 41.

* Ninth: 41, 62.

* 10th: 60, 44.

* 11th: 44, 44.

* 12th: 42,51.

Unlike other years (and other districts) there are no huge "bubble" classes or (outliers) or a very high or low number of students in a grade. Each grade from kindergarten through 12th (with the exception of seventh and 10th) has an enrollment in the 40s or 30s. The seventh grade this year has 50 students while there are 60 in the 10th.

The district still has not recovered from the drop after the pandemic (732 in 2019-20 to 671 in 2020-21). Since that time, more students are being home-schooled or have moved out of district.

Mr. Place noted that 41 out of 86 juniors/seniors, or 48 percent, currently enrolled in a CTE course at BOCES. When the district forms its "portrait of a graduate," this total is a "huge component in that portrait," Mr. Place added.

Total enrollment numbers were about 1,000 in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has been dropping ever since. The peak class enrollment was the senior class of 1964 which totaled about 110.

The enrollment of special education students remains at 18 percent, the same percent as the last three years.