Oconee County School Board Projects Growth In Enrollments Through 2029 Despite October And March Enrollment Data Showing Declines

***Prior Report Greatly Overestimated Enrollments***

The Oconee County Board of Education told the Georgia Department of Education last month that it expects the small decline in enrollment at Oconee County Schools in school year 2023-2024 to be temporary.

The Board predicted a growth in enrollment for the current school year, and for that growth to continue through to school year 2028-2029.

The Board predicted that growth even though October 2024 enrollment numbers at Oconee County Schools were down by 61 students from October of 2023.

The just released March enrollment data show an even greater decline from March of 2024. Enrollment dropped from 8,496 in March of 2024 to 8,409 in March of 2025--a decline of 87 students.

The Board projected growth in enrollments through 2029 in a Five Year Local Facilities Plan it submitted to the Department of Education in support of its request for funding for a $39.5 million expansion of the system's two high schools.

Enrollment projections in the Facilities Plan appear to be for students who live in Oconee County, and enrollment of students from Oconee County in October decreased by 76 if nonresident students, mostly the children of teachers and other school employees, are removed from the count.

The administration of Oconee County Schools refused to release the March data on residency of enrolled students it has filed with the state, indicating that the state Department of Education should be asked to provide that information.

Michael Ransom, chair of the Board of Education, said he would obtain those data when school administrators refused to release them, but neither Ransom nor any of the other four members of the Board did so.

Request Of State

The Board of Education, at its March 10 meeting, voted to send forward to the state Department of Education its required five-year facilities plan.

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The total cost of the construction in the plan is $67.1 million, with $16.2 million of that listed as eligible for state funding and the remaining $50.9 million coming from local sources.

Of that $67.1 million, nearly 60 percent would be used for changes at the system’s two high schools, with $21.6 million designated for North Oconee High School and $17.9 million to be spent at Oconee County High School.

A single-page summary of the Five Year Facilities Plan Through 2029 was presented to the Board at its work session on March 3 and again at the meeting on March 10.

Details of the Five Year Facilities Plan, including enrollment projections, are in a 127-page document that Oconee County Schools prepared to submit to the state to justify its request for state funding.

“We anticipate that our growth will continue and additional high school instructional spaces will be needed in the near future,” that document states.

Projections In Plans

Over the last five years, Oconee County Schools has done a poor job of projecting its enrollments, a comparison of the Five Year Facility Plan ending in 2024 with the actual enrollments reported in the Five Year Facility Plan ending in 2029 shows.

The 2024 Plan projected enrollments would grow by 246 students from the 2018-2019 school year to the 2019-2020 school year.

In fact, according to the 2029 Plan, enrollments grew by only 113 students, or less than half of what was predicted.

By 2023-2024, enrollments were projected in the 2024 Plan to have grown by 1,230 students from 2018-2019.

In fact, they grew by only 470 students, or a little more than a third of what was predicted.

The result is that the 2024 Plan predicted enrollments would be at 9,171 students in 2023-2024, or 760 students more than the actual 8,411 students reported as enrolled in 2023-2024 in the 2029 plan.

The 2029 plan, submitted before the current school year is completed, projects enrollment for the current school year (2024-2025) of 8,500 students, or an increase of 89 students over the 8,411 reported for last year based on actual counts.

The 2029 report projects an increase of 89 students each year until 2028-2029, when enrollment is projected to be 8,856 students, or 315 fewer students than were projected to be enrolled in Oconee County Schools in the last report in 2023-2024.

October And March Enrollments

The official October count of Full Time Equivalent students at Oconee County Schools showed the first actual decline in enrollments going back 30 years.

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The number of students reported to the state was 8,474, down from 8,535 a year earlier.

Enrollment in October of 2024 had been up by only four students from a year earlier.

The March enrollment numbers–for March 6–released by the state last week show the 8,409 students enrolled at Oconee County Schools, down by 87 from the 8,496 a year earlier and down from the 8,517 on March 2 of 2023.

The average of the October 2024 and the March 2025 figures is 8,442, which is below the 8,500 projected in the 2029 Five Year Facilities Plan for this academic year.

Residency Reports

Oconee County Schools is required to classify the students in its October and March reports in terms of residency.

In October of 2024, Oconee County Schools reported that 8,383 of the 8,474 students in the schools actually lived in Oconee County.

The 91 students from outside the county were mostly the children of teachers and other employees of the county.

In 2023, as an incentive to aid in recruitment of teachers and other employees, Oconee County Schools stopped charging tuition for what are called Inter-District Transfers. 

In the last three years–for which I have obtained residency data via open records requests from Oconee County Schools–enrollments of students who were residents of Oconee County declined from 8,475 in October of 2022 to 8,459 in October of 2023 and then to the 8,383 in October of 2024.

On March 13, I asked Steven Colquitt, Communications Director and Open Records Officer for Oconee County Schools, for the residency reports for March going back to 2020. 

Colquitt did not provide the reports, saying he did not have the report for 2025 and that the earlier data were available from the Georgia Department of Education.

Other Numbers

The Oconee County Board of Education has not discussed its enrollment numbers in a public meeting this year, so it isn’t possible to know what explanations the Board or school administrators are offering for the decreases in enrollments.

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Data obtained from open records requests show that 995 students who live in Oconee County were attending private schools last October, up by 85 students from October of 2023.

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.

The March enrollment data obtained from the Georgia Department of Education show that enrollment dropped by 65 students from October of 2024, with 37 fewer students enrolled at Oconee County High School and nine fewer at North Oconee High School.

Oconee County Middle School had 13 fewer students, and Colham Ferry Elementary School gained nine students.

All of the system’s schools were under capacity, according to the March data, with Dove Creek Middle School with 469 fewer students than capacity, and Malcom Bridge Middle School with 459 students fewer than capacity.

The Board of Education projected a sharp drop in enrollments in its Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget.

After projecting a growth of 104 students in its 2023-2024 budget from a year earlier, the Board projected a drop of 232 students in its Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget.

The 8,451 Full Time Equivalent student enrollment in the current budget contrasts with the 8,500 listed in the 2029 Five Year Facilities Plan and the 8,474 official October 1 Enrollment (8,383 of them residents) and the 8,409 March 6 enrollment figure.

Open Records Request

I filed an open records request with Open Records Officer Colquitt at 9:04 p.m. on March 13, the deadline for filing the March 6 enrollment census reports with the Georgia Department of Education.

Colquitt 1/13/2025

At 5 p.m. on March 19 Colquitt responded, quoting my request.

“The records requested for ‘Student Enrollment by Grade’ and ‘Student Enrollment by Grade, Gender, Race, Ethnicity’ for March of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 are publicly available via the Georgia Department of Education's Georgia Insights website under the ‘Data Reports’ section,” he wrote.

“Regarding ‘Student Enrollment by Residency’ for March of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, you may select ‘Request Data’ on the same website,” he continued.

“There are no records responsive for March of 2025,” he said.

At 11 p.m. on that day (March 19), I responded to Colquitt.

“I doubt I need to tell you that this response is a violation of the law,” I wrote. “It doesn't matter that I can obtain these data from the state site. I asked that you provide me the copy of the forms that you submitted. So I ask that you send those to me tomorrow.”

“I also asked for the 2025 data on the date that OCS was required to submit those forms to the Georgia Department of Education. So I ask that you provide those to me tomorrow as well.”

Colquitt did not provide the requested materials.

Correspondence With Board

On March 19, after receiving Colquitt's email rejecting my request, I sent an email message to Oconee County School Board Chair Ransom, copied to Board Members Ryan Hammock, Adam Hammond, Amy Parrish, and Brock Toole.

Ransom 3/3/2025

I attached Colquitt’s denial of my request on March 19 and my response to that denial.

“It is crazy that you are forcing me to go hunting for an attorney to force you to comply with the state law,” I wrote to Ransom. “It is a waste of my money twice. Once paying out of my pocket for an attorney for me and once paying through my tax dollars for an attorney for you, other board members and OCS.”

“It hardly seems like it is an accident that what I have requested is enrollment data,” I wrote. “As you know, I had to go through all kinds of delays to get the October figures. And it is for that reason that I want to be able to see the detailed data that OCS is required to submit to the Georgia Department of Education exactly as OCS is reporting those data.”

On March 20, I received a reply from Ransom, copied to the other four Board members.

“I understand your concerns regarding enrollment data,” Ransom wrote. “I will pass along your request and reiterate the importance of complying with state law.”

“If there are specific issues causing delays, I hope we can work toward a resolution that ensures transparency while addressing any procedural requirements,” Ransom wrote. “I appreciate your patience on this matter.”

I wrote Ransom, with copies to the other Board members, again on March 20, asking for help with the request.

Neither Ransom nor any member of the Board responded.

I wrote twice more, on March 22 and March 25.

I have not heard from Ransom or any member of the Board.

I have filed a complaint with the Office of Attorney General Chris Carr and have been informed that my complaint is being investigated.