Where did 1,600 students go? Why Washington County schools enrolled 4.5% fewer students this year.

Even though Washington County is one of Utah’s fastest growing communities, the population boom isn’t showing up in K-12 classrooms.

Schools in Washington County have enrolled 1,610 fewer students this year compared to last year. That equals a 4.5% drop, one of the highest in the state.

Most of the drop, 1,100 students, is due to fewer students enrolling in the district’s online schools, called Utah Online 7-12 and Utah Online K8, which are available to anyone living in Utah.

Brent Bills, the school district’s business administrator, attributes the online drop to the state’s school voucher program, Utah Fits All. Students who have the scholarship can use the money to take online classes on a contract basis, but they can’t be counted as enrolled students.

The district also enrolled 466 fewer students in its physical schools. Bills said that drop is due to families having fewer children and because many homes are unaffordable for young families.

“Honestly, we would have a lot more kids in Washington County if home affordability was not an issue,” Bills said. “The cost of housing in Washington County is very high. Interest rates are pretty high right now. People with young kids starting out — this is a hard place to live right now.”

While families with school-age children are moving in, it’s not enough to make up for the loss of the youngest elementary students, he said.

The county’s median home price at the end of September was $525,000, according to the Utah Association of Realtors.

The district enrolled 34,396 students by Oct. 1 this year (when official enrollment counts are taken). Last year, it counted 36,006 students.

Statewide, K-12 enrollment dropped 1.7%, by nearly 11,500 students, the biggest decrease of public school students in 25 years. The drop is being attributed to smaller family sizes, fewer students moving in and more school choice.

While homeschool and charter schools are popular in Washington County, Bills said there are fewer kindergarten-age children in the county. There are about 1,000 fewer kindergarten students this year than seniors, he noted.

“About nine years ago, all of a sudden the kindergarten class was smaller than the first grade class, significantly smaller,” he said. “And then in every kindergarten class after that, [it] was kind of the same size. That drop off has been slowly working through our district.”

The district expected and budgeted for the reduction, he said, which means it doesn’t plan to raise taxes or eliminate positions.

But there will be boundary changes that could send more students to Little Valley and Bloomington elementary schools, two St. George campuses that have lost enrollment. The changes will be discussed at public hearings and could take place next August.

“We have schools that are decreasing in enrollment, and we have others that are just blowing up,” Bills said. “We need to move kids to the schools where we have room.”

— Salt Lake Tribune reporter Courtney Tanner contributed to this story.