The Deer Park School District continues to be upwardly mobile, according to September enrollment figures released by school district officials.

Preliminary figures peg the district’s enrollment at 2,301 full-time equivalent (FTE) students (2411 students overall), although district official acknowledge that figure could actually be higher.

Currently, district figures show a high school enrollment of 630.5 FTE students, which is 30.5 students less than was budgeted for the upcoming school year. 

Superintendent Mick Miller said the shortfall may actually be in the school district’s new computer software and that many of the missing students may actually be enrolled at the high school.

“The kids are there,” added Tom Crouch, the district’s business manager.

As for the actual overall enrollment, the head count is more than 20 FTEs higher than the district estimated for in its 2007-08 budget even without the missing high school count.

The biggest over-estimate came in the Home Link program, where district officials budgeted for 475 FTEs and currently have slightly less than 500.

A higher-than-expected across-the-board enrollment is the key for districts that want to surpass its budget revenue estimates.

Miller noted that Deer Park joined such area school districts as Mead and East Valley that have surpassed its enrollment estimates so far this year.

Among the areas that Deer Park has greatly overshot early enrollment estimates was in at the kindergarten level.

Currently, the district has 122 kindergartners in Deer Park Elementary School’s five classrooms. Under the district’s agreement with the Deer Park Education Association, class size will be limited to 25 students per classroom, which puts the district close to maximum size.

Miller said with an influx of a few more kindergartners (two more registered late last week), the district will have to increase the pay of any teacher with more than 25 students or start a sixth kindergarten class.

The added class option may be sticky, he noted, because of the increasing lack of space at DPES. There are currently 377 students at the elementary school not counting the pre-school programs that are not part of the enrollment figures