The county school system has grown to more than 151,000 students for the 2013-2014 school year, a record number that is only expected to grow.
MCPS says about 2,300 more students are enrolled in the system than last school year. Enrollment has grown by more than 10,00 students in the past five years and is expected to hit 160,000 by 2018-2019.
Bruce Crispell, the school system’s long-range planner, has attributed this spike in enrollment to parents switching their kids out of private schools and into MCPS during the recession, the mandatory installation of full-day kindergarten in 2006 and less job mobility that has meant fewer families leaving the county.
MCPS this summer added more than 120 elementary and secondary staff positions, 22 positions to serve an additional 900 ESOL students and 100 positions geared toward special education students.
The system also says it replaced about 9,300 computers in more than 40 schools, many with wireless-enabled laptops or tablets. This summer, MCPS installed wireless networks in 113 schools with the goal of having every school wireless-enabled by the end of September. More than 80 schools got Promethean whiteboards.
