Olympia School District records more enrollees than projected

Full-time enrollment was up to start the 2025-26 school year for the Olympia School District.

An enrollment update report showed full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment was 80 students higher than the projected number for the start of the school year. FTE is used to guide staffing decisions and funding allocations across the district.

“September enrollment is typically a strong indicator of the district's annual average FTE. We do recognize that the system conversion and change could be impacting the September enrollment count and we remain cautiously optimistic that the annual average will be higher than 8,868 student FTE,” the report states.

Elementary schools

The district’s report stated that elementary enrollment is aligned with projections.

“Elementary came in pretty … close to what we projected. There’s about a dozen kids different from what we thought. And for the first time in a long, long time, kindergarten enrollment is slightly higher than anticipated,” said Superintendent Patrick Murphy at a school district board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 11.

Kindergarten enrollment was also slightly higher than projected, resulting in larger class sizes at Centennial and McKenny elementary schools. 

Middle and secondary schools

Secondary and middle schools also recorded an increase, with the latter having 24 more students than the prior year’s annual average enrollment. 

Washington Middle School had 30 more students in sixth grade than predicted — a first in eight years for the school. 

Olympia High School’s freshman class had  44 more students than the projected, while Capital High School exceeded projections by more than 53 students in grades 10 through 12. 

Learning academy 

The Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA) recorded 80 students, which was  under its projected number. 

“The one school that is probably unique when it comes to enrollment in our school district is ORLA,” said Murphy. 

Murphy explained that ORLA “is not one school,” as it has a home school, online, farm, middle school and  Montessori programs.