Surprise: Greenwich public school enrollment is down

Greenwich public school enrollment has dropped by 112 students from 8,513 enrolled last year to 8,392 enrolled this year. That is a drop of 1.4%.

Superintendent Jones said this drop is a trend across Fairfield County and also due to the change in age cut off for children entering Kindergarten (but that was last year's excuse).

More importantly, the incoming Freshmen class at Greenwich high school will have only 646 students compared to the typical graduating class of 700 students. That's a drop of 7.7%.

This news may come as a surprise to our local Greenwich Democrat party. It was only in March of this year, they put out a newsletter here entitled "The Myth of Tanking Public School Enrollment - a Republican Fantasy Floated Each Budget Season". They say Greenwich Public Schools have maintained a healthy enrollment, with projections indicating stability over the next decade. The newsletter harshly criticized Republicans on the finance board (BET) and Budget Chair Leslie Tarkington for saying that the decline in students means we should be looking at school closing/consolidations.

Between the Lines: Reality just hit us in the face. Spending on Greenwich schools continues to outpace inflation and enrollment is indeed declining. Those who are dealing with this sober reality should be supported and not lambasted for political reasons.

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