CCR-1 Enrollment Numbers ‘Concerning’

Superintendent Dr. Kyle Gibbs said that enrollment throughout the Crawford County R-1 School District is concerning.

Enrollment has dropped from 933 during the 2019-20 school year to 834 in 2022-23.

“It’s a dramatic change,” said Gibbs, who told the school board that the declines have been in the middle school and high school.

“The elementary has stabilized and kindergarten is slightly higher, but there’s been a decline at the middle school the last year few years.

Gibbs is troubled by what has already been a sharp decline in the current sophomore class.

Eighty-five eighth graders were promoted to high school two years ago and Gibbs said they are already down in the 60s.

Since funding is partially determined on enrollment, it’s important that the district figure out how to improve the numbers.

“It’s not catching up with us yet, but that day will come,” Gibbs said. “We’re not there yet, but we will be.”

Bourbon is not the only public school that has suffered from declining enrollment as it is a problem spanning the entire country

When schools reopened in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment fell throughout Missouri by 3.2%.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education attributed the decline to COVID-19.

More than 29,000 students failed to return to the classroom.