Opinion
More students, more challenges
EDMOND — Each fall, Doug Melton, superintendent of Guymon Public Schools in the Panhandle, gives me a call to update me on his district’s enrollment. Every year it is an interesting report, but this year it was even more so. Instead of the few extra students the district had expected, more than 200 new students, nearly three times as many as expected, enrolled this fall.
That meant hiring four new teachers instead of the usual two planned. Classrooms are full and two portable buildings have been added and even more are needed to accommodate the growing student body. The Guymon school district has seen steady growth since a hog-processing plant opened in the area in 1995. The majority of new families in the Panhandle are Hispanic. For many years, Guymon schools have been majority-minority.
At 64 percent of Guymon’s 2,726 students, the percentage of Hispanic students in the Guymon school district is the largest in the state. Hardesty, also in Texas County, is a close second at 56 percent.
The demographics of Oklahoma’s students also have shifted dramatically in recent years, with the majority (56.6 percent) of the growth, in the last year, in the Hispanic student group. Since 1990, the number of Hispanic students has increased more than 300 percent statewide. At 11 percent of the total population, Hispanic students now represent roughly the same number as African American students. The percentage of Hispanic students in lower grades is even higher, with 14 percent of all kindergartners being Hispanic.
This is certainly the case in Guymon, where a majority of the growth is in the elementary level, most notably in the fifth grade. Last year, the district opened a new elementary school and already it may have to add classrooms in portable buildings.
Not all Hispanic students are new English language learners; but there are children of all ethnicities who need help learning English in virtually every Oklahoma school. Sometimes, schools need bilingual teachers to reach out to new students and their parents, who may struggle with English, too. The strategies educators use to help new students can help all students, as well.
The population growth in our state and much of the nation during the last several years doesn’t seem to be slowing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the U.S. is growing rapidly and more quickly in the West and South than the Northeast or Midwest. The bureau’s predictions show that the level of diversity we see in schools now is just the beginning.
In addition to the growth in the Hispanic student population, Oklahoma public schools continue to see growth in total student population. This year, there are more boys and girls attending Oklahoma schools than ever before: 654,511 in October 2009.
According to preliminary numbers, public school enrollment increased by nearly 10,000 students since 2008. And, for the first time in modern history, Oklahoma City has become the largest school district. Oklahoma City Public Schools had an increase of 1,481 students compared to an additional 298 students in Tulsa Public Schools.
The rising enrollment amid falling funding for schools is a huge challenge this school year. But it is a challenge Doug Melton and caring school leaders like him all across our state will meet as they always have.
For more information on Oklahoma’s public school population, visit our Web site at www.sde.state.ok.us or call 521-3331.
SANDY GARRETT is state superintendent of public instruction in Oklahoma.
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