Wake County school officials announced today that the school system’s official enrollment grew by 1,893 students from last year’s total.

School officials say the enrollment on the 20th-day of classes was 139,599 students, compared to 137,706 students at that same time last year. School districts use the 20th-day figures to report an official enrollment to the state for funding purposes.

The school district based the budget on having 140,012 students. Whether county commissioners ask for money back from the school system for those 413 students is debatable.

Unlike Wake, it looks like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are shrinking in size this year.

According to today's Charlotte Observer, CMS reported having 133,664 students in K-12, down almost 400 from last year. The figure is based on enrollment for Tuesday, which was the 20th day of classes for Charlotte, Wake and most school districts in the state.

School districts use 20th-day totals to determine the official enrollment for the school year.

No word yet on when Wake will announce a Day 20 number. But based on Day 10, Wake is still growing as it then had 139,362 students, a gain of 1,656 from last year.

Wake had 139,362 students as of the 10th day of classes for traditional-calendar schools on Tuesday.

Over the next couple of days, school officials will use the enrollment figures to determine how many teachers will be moved to different schools to help reduce class sizes. Schools get funding for teachers based on the number of students they have enrolled.

School officials say they’ve been fairly close to their enrollment projections. Schools officials had projected in February that enrollment would reach 140,012 students by the 20th day of classes. That estimate was lowered to 139,726 students last month.

Wake is continuing to lower its projected enrollment for the upcoming school year.

Wake's latest projection for the 2009-10 school year calls for 139,726 students, an increase of 2,020 kids from this past school year. This compares to a June projection of 139,951 students and 140,012 students in February.

While the recession bears part of the blame for Wake' relatively small growth rate this year, school officials have said the major reason is the new state law requiring kids to turn 5 by Aug. 31 to enter kindergarten. Growth is projected to go to above 4,000 students in 2010-11.

The enrollment projections are being lowered again in the face of the national economic meltdown.

At today's joint meeting, school and county staff say that, for budgeting purposes, they're projecting enrollment this fall at 140,012 students. That would be a gain of 2,306 students, the smallest increase since 1990.

The growth is so much slower this fall because of the economy and a new state law that says students must turn age 5 by Aug. 31 to attend kindergarten.

It's going to be a tough love kind of meeting today between the school board and county commissioners.

As noted in today's article, County Manager David Cooke said he’ll talk bluntly to school board members as he walks them “step-by-step” through the limitations on borrowing more money in the face of steep declines in tax revenues.

“It gets down to what you can afford given the current realities of the economy,” Cooke said in the article. “It’s not that we like having to make these tough choices, that’s just where we are.”

Here are a few odds and ends from Monday's CEM meeting on growth projections, the cost of reassignment and Wake's academic status.

A parent asked Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney if the current economic conditions have been factored into the growth projections used in the draft reassignment plan. Dulaney said no but that the municipalities may be updating the housing projections they provided the school system two years ago.

Another parent asked if the school district has done a formal cost benefit analysis of the reassignment proposal. Dulaney said no.

Click here for the items that the school board slashed from the budget on Tuesday to make up for the loss of $11.2 million in county and state funding.

The biggest reduction is the $3.2 million in savings from student enrollment coming in lower than expected. A lot of it consists of money for positions that were never filled at schools because the kids didn't come.

(This amount doesn't include the $3 million that county commissioners withheld to see if enrollment would meet projections. Since the bodies fell short, that money was never turned over.)

The budget news is getting worse for the school system.

Supt. Del Burns said the school district will have to give back $5.5 million to the state as part of $58 million in cuts to the state's public school districts. This comes on top of an earlier request from County Manager David Cooke to return $5.7 million.

With the prospect of more than $11 million in possible cuts, school board members warned today that cuts to the classroom and even layoffs might have to be made now.

The 20th day numbers are in and they're even further off than they were last year.

Wake says it had 137,706 students on the 20th day. That's 2,737 students below the projection that was used for this year's county budget, likely meaning commissioners will keep the $3 million that was withheld in case enrollment fell short.

It's the second year in a row that Wake has come in more than 2,000 students below projection. Enrollment was 2,084 students below projection last year.