April 18, 2025
Local NewsState & National

4-year-old preschool enrollment plummets, K-12 sees slight dip

By IAN RICHARDSON

Three-year-old Kylin Allen, middle, analyzes colored pies on a folder during playtime at Trinity Lutheran Preschool Thursday morning. Located at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, it is one of five Creston preschools that offers free preschool to 4-year-olds through the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program. (CNA photo)

With significantly fewer 4-year-olds attending preschool this year, Creston Community School District could be looking at a much smaller incoming kindergarten class next fall.

According to Creston’s yearly enrollment report compiled earlier this month, 4-year-olds attending the five Creston preschools affiliated with the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program totaled 86. That number is down from 135 last year. It’s also at least 25 students lower than any year since 2008 when Creston began the statewide program, which provides 10 hours of free preschool a week to area 4-year-olds.

Callie Anderson, Creston’s pre-kindergarten through second grade principal, said the school takes these numbers into consideration when planning for the future.

“We are anticipating a smaller kindergarten class in the fall of 16-17,” she said. “Numbers fluctuate from year to year, but we’ve not had a class this small since Iowa began the Statewide Volunteer Preschool Program.”

Anderson said the school will have a better idea of who plans to send their 5-year-olds to kindergarten or junior kindergarten after Kindergarten Kickoff in the spring.

During Monday night’s school board meeting, Creston Superintendent Steve McDermott said the district is, as a result, considering whether it will need to decrease the number of kindergarten sections next year. But, he also said the number of students entering kindergarten is hard to track at this point since not all children go to preschool.

“It doesn’t mean that we are down 50 kids that age in the community,” McDermott said. “But we don’t know for sure. It does mean we’re down almost 50 taking advantage of the program.”

K-12 enrollment

Creston’s K-12 enrollment dropped by seven this year, putting total certified enrollment at 1,389.59 students. Fractions of a student, like the .59, occur when home-schooled or privately schooled students take only a few classes in the district.

Certified enrollment had dropped by 28 students last year. But enrollment is still more than 70 students higher than it was five years ago.

Certified enrollment numbers are compiled every October and used for budgeting and for calculating state funding at the legislative level.

In other Creston Schools news:

• The board recognized junior Chase Shiltz, who was nominated for the KCCI and Fareway Stores Student Athlete of the Week. It also recognized the Creston and Orient-Macksburg Special Olympics bowling participants, five of whom have qualified for the state competition Nov. 21, and the Panther Marching Band, which received its 27th straight I rating at state contest Saturday.

• Board member Tom Eagan vounteered to become the Creston Community Schools representative to the Union County Conference Board.

• The board approved to gradually update its board policies in an online format using several smaller committees, which will consist of board members, office staff and administrators.

• McDermott informed the board that $38,000 in curriculum funding had been spent on elementary reading materials, which teachers had requested at the July meeting.