Nearly 1,000 students who live in Oconee County were attending private schools last October, up by 85 students from October of 2023.
The largest number of those Oconee County students in private schools in October were attending Prince Avenue Christian School, Athens Academy, and Westminster Christian Academy.
The number of students living in Oconee County attending Prince Avenue Christian School increased by 71 students from October of 2023 to October of 2024, while the number at Westminster Christian Academy increased by 34, and the number at Athens Academy declined by eight.
In contrast to the increase of 85 Oconee County students at private schools from October of 2023 to October of 2024, the total number of students enrolled at Oconee County Schools dropped by 61 students from October of 2023 to October of 2024--from 8,535 to 8,474.
Oconee County Schools employees are allowed to enroll their children at Oconee County Schools, and, with those students removed, the number of Oconee County students at Oconee County Schools dropped from 8,459 in October of 2023 to 8,383 in October of 2024, or a decrease of 76 students.
No precise figures exist on the number of Oconee County students being home schooled, but Georgia Department of Education data show that the number of Declarations of Intent to home school for Oconee County submitted online increased by 77 for the start of this current school year from a year earlier
The Declaration of Intent can cover more than one student, and the Declarations submitted for the current school year were for 475 students, an increase of 66 students from the last school year.
Oconee County Schools is required to submit by March 13 its census of student enrollment for the second half of the school year. Enrollment on March 7 of 2024 was 8,496, down by 21 students from the 8,517 reported on March 2 of 2023.
Private School Reports
Private schools are required by the state to inform the local school district of the number of students enrolled in October of each year–when public school districts also are required to conduct a census of their students.
Each school district subsequently is required to file a DE1111 Report with the Georgia Department of Education containing the information provided to the district by the private schools within their jurisdiction.
The Georgia Department of Education then sends back to each school district a report taken from data provided by private schools in the state that lists students from a particular district attending private schools around the state.
The local district is asked to “Please review the information for accuracy” and then “sign off” on the report.
I obtained that report for Oconee County Schools for 2024 and for each year going back to 2020 via an open records request filed with Oconee County Schools.
Natalie Stowe, Director of Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) and of Federal Programs for Oconee County Schools, approved the 2024 report on Nov. 14, 2024. I obtained the report at the end of January.
That report shows that the 995 students from Oconee County enrolled in private schools in October of 2024 were in 14 different schools systems, some as far away from Oconee County as Atlanta, Gainesville, Bethlehem, and Loganville.
The largest number of those Oconee County students in private schools in October 2024 were attending Prince Avenue Christian School (287), Athens Academy (251), and Westminster Christian Academy (178).
Following the three large local private schools in Oconee County in enrollment of Oconee County students were St. Joseph Catholic Parish School in Athens with 18, Bethlehem Christian Academy with 14, and George Walton Academy in Monroe with 10.
Change Over Time
The number of students from Oconee County attending private schools has increased from 794 in October of 2020 to 995 in October of 2024, or a growth of 201 students. That is an increase of 25.3 percent.
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During that same time period, 2020 to 2024, enrollment at Oconee County Schools increased from 8,224 to 8,474, or a growth of 250 students, representing an increase of 3.0 percent.
The number of Oconee County students at Prince Avenue Christian School increased from 71 students from October of 2023 to October of 2024 and by 188 since 2020.
Note: In the three paragraphs above, I corrected a typo in the dates to reflect what is shown correctly in the table at the right. I apologize for the error.
The number of Oconee County students at Westminster Christian Academy increased by 34 students from October of 2023 to October of 2024 and by 40 students from October of 2020 to October of 2023.
The number of Oconee County students at Athens Academy declined by eight from October of 2023 to October of 2024 and by 18 since October of 2020.
The Georgia Department of Education does provide enrollment counts for the private schools, but the accuracy of that count is dependent on each private school and each public school system accurately reporting on the DE1111 the enrollment of each student.
Because that number was challenged when I reported data for 2023 for Athens Academy, I checked with Athens Academy, Prince Avenue, and Westminster on the data released to me by the state for 2024.
Each said the numbers for 2024 were inaccurate.
According to the admission office at Athens Academy, enrollment decreased from 898 students in October of 2023 to 875 in October of 2024.
Enrollment at Prince Avenue Christian School increased from 880 in October of 2023 to 980 in October of 2024, and at Westminster Christian Academy from 341 in October of 2023 to 443 in October of 2024, according to admission officers at the two schools.
Home Schooling
The Home Study Office, Division of Policy and External Affairs, Georgia Department of Education, collects data based on Home School Declarations of Intent completed by parents intending to home school a child or children.
I obtained those data for the last five school years for the state through data requests filed with the Georgia Department of Education and separated out the Declaration of Intent data for Oconee County residents.
The data are based on electronic submissions, and parents have other options for filing Home School Declarations of Intent, so the total counts could underestimate the numbers, the Department of Education said in releasing the data.
Based on the available counts, the number of Declarations of Intent in Oconee County increased from 177 in school year 2019-2020 to 226 in 2023-24 and to 303 for the current school year, 2024-2025.
The total number of students covered by those Declarations of Intent increased from 371 in 2020 to 409 for the last school year and to 475 for the current school year.
RESA Trends
For the first time since at least 1995, Oconee County Schools had an actual drop in enrollment in October, based on the official school census report. Enrollment had been basically flat since 2021.
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Among the 13 school systems in the Northeast Georgia Regional Educational Service Agencies, Oconee County was one of four systems to report a drop in enrollments in October of 2024 from October of 2023.
Oconee County’s drop of 61 students was second in size only to the drop of 69 students reported in Elbert County.
It also was second only to Elbert County in the percentage of the decline (negative 2.2 percent for Elbert and negative 0.7 percent for Oconee County).
Clarke County (drop of 56 students, 0.5 percent) and Oglethorpe County (drop of five students, 0.2 percent) were the other two districts in the Northeast Georgia RESA with declines in enrollment.
Jackson County reported an increase of 636 students, or growth of 6.0 percent, and Jefferson City Schools, also in Jackson County, reported an increase of 125 students, or a growth of 3.0 percent.
The third school district in Jackson County, Commerce City Schools, reported a growth of 32 students, or a 1.7 percent increase.
Across the state, enrollments declined by 0.3 percent, or less than half of the rate of decline of Oconee County.
2 comments:
What are the causes for more Oconee residents sending their students to private schools? Is it parents wanting a better chance for their student-athletes to play? Is it fear of students' security at school? Is it for more religious instruction? Is it a lack of communication/transparency from OCS' top administrators? Is it the proximity of private schools to their home? Is it hope that school vouchers will provide some funding? -David Lawrence
probably some of all of the above, but more for sports in the case of PACS imho. But now WCS has a football team and is massively expanding their campus. So there's that for sports there too. I know of Clarke Co families who have done the same choosing Acad in the past, but you see the numbers from Oconee Co to Acad have dropped. Too much focus on secular academics perhaps.....Julie Crowe
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