Data Source – Pennsylvania Department of Education
School districts across the country are shrinking, nearby New York schools are merging and their athletic teams struggle for lack of students. As the North East School District considers the 2024-2025 budget with a recommended tax increase of 5.94 percent and as a new $3.5 million artificial turf project is about to start, you might begin to wonder just how many students there are in our district. Is there a large and growing student body with many more athletes who will take advantage of this brand new track and field surface in the coming years?
The chart above, from data provided by the PA Department of Education, shows the North East School District is experiencing the same trend of declining student enrollment as other districts. Is this the time for multi-million dollar artificial turf projects?
NESD Student Enrollment
Enrollment numbers used in chart above.
| School year | Enrollment |
|---|---|
| 2012-2013 | 1668 |
| 2013-2014 | 1648 |
| 2014-2015 | 1684 |
| 2015-2016 | 1667 |
| 2016-2017 | 1652 |
| 2017-2018 | 1660 |
| 2018-2019 | 1659 |
| 2019-2020 | 1629 |
| 2020-2021 | 1581 |
| 2021-2122 | 1514 |
| 2022-2023 | 1514 |
Check out the data and form your own conclusions.