Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Olympia School District reported that 8,753 students showed up for the beginning of classes in September, down more than 100 students from the same period last year.
Superintendent Patrick Murphy discussed the enrollment totals with the Olympia School District Board of Directors at a meeting on Sept. 10.
“The first weeks of school provide a really important indication of how many students we are going to likely serve this year, and we always compare that to last year and our projections — what we budgeted for this year,” Murphy said.
Executive Director of Business Services Kate Davis said the enrollment total was slightly below estimates.
“(A total of) 8,753 students showed up in September. That's about 109 students less than last year's actuals and 35 students below what we had budgeted,” she said.
Davis said the biggest difference in enrollment was at the elementary level, with 64 fewer students than budgeted.
“Elementary, throughout the year, tends to grow by about 20 to 25 students, so we anticipate that getting a little bit larger,” she said.
Throughout the school year, the district will continue to count enrollment on the first day of the month, which then leads to the annual average full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment for the year.
Board Vice President Maria Flores expressed some concern on the enrollment data presentation, which was delivered without visual and documentary materials.
“I am a little frustrated with this presentation because I was trying to keep track of everything you were saying. … I am feeling confused why this was not given to us in a table or just some way of documenting this,” Flores said.
Flores requested the first week of class enrollment data be made available in paper and posted on the district's website to be more accessible.
Murphy committed to releasing the document, saying the latest presentation is only a “high-level overview.”
Murphy monitored schools with OSD Assistant Superintendent James Whitehead.
“We had an opportunity to see different routines being started. I visited kindergarten classrooms yesterday. When they showed up out at Pioneer, I saw the librarian there going over all the great books in their collection. I went into a fifth grade classroom at Garfield and just saw the excitement from those kids’ faces knowing they are going to be the biggest kids in the school,” Murphy said.
Murphy also lauded the bus drivers for doing their part in getting children to school.
“When you pull up to the stops, the families know the driver and they are just so grateful to have that same driver on the bus,” he said.
Murphy also thanked the district’s maintenance crew, stating the team provides high-quality experiences to the students.
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Honestyandrealityguy
So many parents want their childred to learn: reading, writing and arithmetic. And the unions want them to learn .... ?
Monday, September 14 Report this
GeoduckHunter
Not sure what VP Flores couldn’t understand. The Jolt staff seemed to understand those numbers just fine. Maybe Supt. Murphy and Finance Director Davis were too busy crunching numbers and visiting schools like they should and didn’t have time to put together a fancy “diagram” with pretty pictures for Flores to understand…..Rude!!!
Monday, September 14 Report this
JW
A shrinking population of students going to government schools is a win for society. Now cut the budget and give money back to the property owners.
Tuesday, September 15 Report this
ScottWall
Olympia School District enrollment is down 0.012%.
The District's estimation for budgeting purposes was off by only 35 students out of a total of 8,753.
Is there any reason any of this warrants an article?
Tuesday, September 15 Report this