Friday, October 2, 2026
The Olympia School District is projecting an increase in student enrollment at McLane Elementary School, largely because of multifamily contruction projects in the area.
In a work session on Thursday, June 5, Olympia School District (OSD) Superintendent Patrick Murphy reported enrollment and budget projections to the OSD Board of Directors.
The area is primarily served by McLane Elementary, and is also where most of its student population is from.
One of the developments, The Landing (Family Support Center), was completed last year and generated more than 30 students for McLane. The center has 62 multifamily units for victims of violence.
“McLane really did totally go away from the norm last year, or two years ago, when their enrollment went up in February, March, April and May,” Murphy said.
Two projects, the 7th Avenue multifamily project, and Green Cove Park subdivision, are pending.
The other one of the projects, Harrison Avenue subdivision, is under construction with no specified completion date.
“The Harrison (Avenue) subdivision is estimated to generate 17.12 students when construction is completed. If we artificially add in this growth we may be double counting growth from the grade progression ratio,” Murphy’s report states.
Murphy said the construction will produce 70 single-family homes.
In school year 2023-24, the district’s annual average full-time equivalent (FTE) students are around 3,779.6.
The district had 3,743.6 FTE in school year 2024-25, and projects 3,623.4 FTE in the next school year.
The report showed a large fifth grade class will be moving up to middle school, followed by continued small projected kindergarten enrollment.
The report states that conservative estimates are selected because the district “does not have contingency to be over-staffed if actual enrollment is lower than projection.”
Projections are based on the October or January count date, as well as an annual average.
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