Kalispell Public Schools has experienced a surge in high school enrollment and a major decline in elementary students compared to last year, according to an official fall enrollment count.

The enrollment fluctuations indicate an influx of people moving to the area and families opting to home-school students, according to Flathead County Superintendent of Schools Jack Eggensperger and Kalispell Public Schools Superintendent Micah Hill.

“As I talk to all the area superintendents they’re seeing very similar trends in their data,” Hill said. “Even across the state, with the AAs, everybody’s reporting high school enrollment’s up, elementary is down — with the exception of Billings.”

Every school year there are two official enrollment counts taken in October and February by Montana school districts, which are reported to the state Office of Public Instruction. The average of the two counts is put into a formula that calculates how much funding schools receive.

Combined, Flathead and Glacier high schools gained 114 high school students for a total enrollment of 2,958 students.

“A 114-student increase in one year is massive,” Hill said, noting the district initially anticipated an increase of 60 students.

Director of Business Services and Operations Gwyn Andersen described it as unprecedented.

“Looking back to 1995, there hasn’t been an increase of that size,” Andersen said.

Each grade level saw an increase with the exception of 12th-grade, which decreased by 17 students. Tenth grade gained the most students, 62, followed by ninth grade, which increased by 43 students. Eleventh grade added 26 students.

MEANWHILE, GRADES K-8 decreased by 193 students for a total enrollment of 2,884 students.

Each grade level experienced decreases except for seventh grade, which gained 30 students. First grade had the biggest decrease with 41 fewer students. Kindergarten experienced the smallest decrease with five fewer students. Second grade decreased by 17 students. Third and fourth grade each decreased by 31 students. Fifth grade decreased by 38 students; sixth grade by 24; and eighth grade by 36.

A decrease of this size is unusual at the elementary level, which, for many years, has dealt with overcrowding. Although enrollment has remained flat over the past two years, from 2010 to 2019, grades K-8 absorbed 237 more students, which led to the district building a sixth elementary school that opened in 2018.

Hill said the decrease may be attributed to families choosing to home-school because of the COVID-19 pandemic and he thinks students will return when the situation improves.

“I think time is going to tell,” he said.

Eggensperger said there are 509 K-12 home-school students living in the Kalispell School District who are registered with the office of the Flathead County Superintendent of Schools. Registering home-school students with the county superintendent of schools is required, according to Montana Code Annotated 20-5-109.

Hill and Assistant Superintendent Callie Langohr also noted that the majority of the district’s Remote Education Center (REC) is currently full. The REC enrolls students who chose to attend school remotely.

“We tried to build as much capacity with the funds we had with the information we had,” Hill said about staffing and technology purchases.

The district has set timelines for on-site and remote learners, who want to switch their instructional delivery.

REC elementary and middle-school students who want to return to campus have until Nov. 6 to enroll. For REC high school students, the timeframe is Nov. 6-20.

On-site elementary and middle school students who want to learn remotely may enroll in the REC from Nov. 9-18. High school students have from Nov. 30 through Dec. 11 to enroll.

When looking at the larger picture, Flathead County’s K-12 public schools underwent a reduction of about 358 students compared to the last school year while home-school numbers jumped by 800 students.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.