Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Olympia School District expects nearly 9,000 full-time enrollees for the 2025-26 school year,
Superintendent Patrick Murphy briefed the school board on the numbers at a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 28.
The district set the total number of full time equivalent (FTE) students at 8,868.3. The breakdown is as follows: 3,623.4 elementary school students, 2,196.7 middle school students and 3,048.2 high school students.
FTE enrollment is based on a state-mandated minimum number of hours per student, which is averaged out over the course of a year.
The minimum time is 1,000 annual instruction hours for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and 1,080 annual instruction hours for students in ninth to 12th grade. A student enrolled for less than the minimum is counted as a partial full-time equivalent student.
Murphy said the district always aims to know the expected number of students as soon as possible, but it is still subject to the number of actual students who show up.
Some learners also tend to attend classes later, which affects the official count on the fourth day of classes, Murphy said.
Murphy said “the fact of the matter” is the district does not know what the enrollment will be, but has historically predicted close to the actual figures.
“If we're making it on a best guesstimate we really don't want to be wrong on that guesstimate,” he said.
The annual average count matters, as the district is funded on an annual average, not the number during the first week of class.
The annual average FTE enrollment from the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction averages the district’s monthly FTE, which is reported from September to June each year, and is used as the basis for funding.
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BobJacobs
This article is way to brief. Comparison to recent years' enrollments? Budget implications? Staffing effects?
Not a lot of details, just the basics.
Bob Jacobs
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 Report this
JulesJames
Shouldn't the headline be about the continuing decline in enrollment? OSD 2020-21 = 9,2060, OSD 2022-23 = 9,105. And now its under 9,000. Where have all the children gone?
Wednesday, September 3, 2025 Report this