The Wake County school system officially has 146,687 students this year, up 3,388 from the same time last year.

The figure, announced today by school officials, is based on the number of students on the 20th day of classes, which was Sept. 22 for most schools. The figure was very close to the projected total of 146.657 students.

Wake remains the largest school district in North Carolina. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system is second with 138,100 students.

Wake likely has moved up one spot, ahead of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, to become the 17th largest school district in the nation. Montgomery County school officials won't have an official number until November, but they've recorded as many as 146,609 students this year

Wake County's official 20th-day enrollment numbers are now in and they show that the school district gained 3,690 students this school year.

Wake now has 143,289 students compared to 139,599 kids last year. Wake remains the largest school system in the state. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, which grew by nearly 2,000 students this school year, is in second with 135,638 students.

Wake also remains the 18th-largest school district in the nation. Wake will likely move next school year ahead of the Montgomery County school system in Maryland, which has 144,000 students.

The Wake County school board is facing a big price tag for new schools and calls to push up implementation of the new student assignment plan.

Administrators said today that Wake needs at least 33 new schools by 2020 to confront a projected 39,500 seat deficit. While no numbers were given today, that's at least $1 billion worth of school construction costs.

One thing to consider is that 33 school figure in based on new elementary and middle schools being on a year-round calendar. Costs would go up if built on a traditional calendar.

CORRECTED TO INDICATE THEY PROJECTED 33 NEW SCHOOLS AND ALL THE NEW ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS WOULD BE ON A YEAR-ROUND CALENDAR

The Wake County school system has grown by more than 3,600 students so far this school year.

School officials reported they had 143,235 students on Wednesday, up 3,636 students from last year's official enrollment. Wake could move up a spot this year to overtake the Montgomery County school system in Maryland to become the 17th-largest school district in the nation.

After spending some vacation time at the beach last week, Knightdale Town Manager Seth Lawless came back to a report that let him know more work was ahead.

While he was gone, the U.S. Census said Knightdale is the fastest growing town in the state.

According to the report,  the town’s population increased by 24.5 percent to more than 10,000 between July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

“Knightdale’s been growing at a pretty good clip for quite a while,” said Lawless. “In a previous report we were in the top 10. It’s nice to get some recognition for what’s been going on for several years.”

Lawless said the growth had boosted tax revenues at a time when it was especially needed.

“While budget times are difficult everywhere, but it has been not nearly as difficult here as in other places,” he said.

Lawless said water and sewer infrastructure is in place for future growth, but its fast pace is not a given. In fact, Knightdale's current population is less than the population projection of 13,998 for July 2010 that was made during water and sewer merger agreements with the city of Raleigh.

That means the town had to raise its water and sewer rates 15 percent this year to try to catch up on its debt to Raleigh.

“We expect to see continued development, but at what pace, it remains to be seen. That’s a little outside of our control.  We are as ready as we can be,” he said.

He said the challenge is making sure the town doesn’t get too far out in front of or too far behind the service needs of the population.

A fire station in southwest Knightdale is a good example of that measured approach, he said. Two years ago, Knightdale was ready to build a $1.5 million fire station. “Even with the growth we have had, we found a better way to provide that service because there just weren’t as many rooftops in the southwest part of town that we thought there’d be by now,” he said.

The town contracted for fire services with the Eastern Wake Fire Department that serves rural Knightdale.

Lawless said the census report didn’t take the town by surprise. He said the town’s internal estimates showed an even greater population at 10,970 than the census report.

“They’ve been (the internal estimates) accurate previously,” he said. “It will be interesting to see the actual results of the (2010) census when they come in December or January.”
 

Mayor Charles Meeker's remarks this week about the Wake school board being people "who are not from the area, don't share our values" ruffled a lot of feathers.

Forbes.com had a fascinating interactive graphic earlier this based on IRS data that shows the patterns of migration from individual counties in the country. The map, as expected, shows a heavy influx from states like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

We've set it here so it's configured to Wake County, but can easily be adjusted. It's worth checking out.

It's no secret that Raleigh natives are becoming harder to find, because of the explosive growth both the city and entire Triangle area has undergone in the past few decades. With the area topping best-place-to-live with regularity, the trend is not going to reverse anytime soon.

New Wake County school board vice chairwoman Debra Goldman gets a gold star for being observant.

Goldman had noticed something odd that had been included in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that was presented to the old board on Nov. 17. On page 95 of the audit, it reported enrollment increases of 7.52 percent this year, 11.2 percent in 2008 and 6.39 percent in 2007.

The numbers looked too high for Goldman considering how enrollment has slowed in recent years.

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.