First Day Counts For Oconee County Schools Show Sharp Drop In Enrollment

***Report Released To Advisory Committees***

Oconee County Schools had 259 fewer students enrolled on the first day of classes this school year than on the first day of classes in 2024.

Enrollments dropped at eight of the 12 schools in the system, with the largest drop at Oconee County High School, which had 82 fewer students counted on the first day of classes in 2025 than in 2024.

At the beginning of school last year, enrollment across the system had declined by 26 students from the year before. Going back to the 2016-2017 school year, first day of school enrollments had increased year-to-year until last year.

Interim Oconee County Schools Superintendent Debra Harden released these first-day-of-school counts in early September at a meeting of the Parent Advisory Committee and at a meeting of the Student Advisory Committee.

According to the official minutes of the two meetings, Harden said at each session that “The staff is currently analyzing the reasons for the decrease.”

The first-day-of-school counts are internal, but on Tuesday of next week, Oconee County Schools will conduct the official census of enrolled students that is used to determine state funding under the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula.

The current Fiscal Year Budget is based on a projected enrollment of 8,323, or 56 more students than the day one count.

Across the last 10 years, first day enrollments have been higher than the first-Tuesday-in-October enrollments used for QBE funding six times, with last year’s count on the first day of school 52 students higher than the count on Oct. 1.

Presentations By Harden

Harden met on Sept. 3 with the Parent Advisory Committee at the Instructional Support Center on North Main Street in Watkinsville and on Sept. 5 with the Student Advisory Committee at North Oconee High School.

In each case, according to the official minutes, Harden was joined by Board of Education Chair Michael Ransom, Chief Operations Officer Ryan White, Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams, and Executive Assistant to the Superintendent Zoe Gattie.

The Parent Advisory Committee consists of one parent from each of the 12 schools in the system.

The Student Advisory Committee consists of three seniors and three juniors from each of the system’s two high schools.

Much of the meeting, according to the minutes, was devoted to the referendum on renewal of the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on the November ballot.

According to the minutes, “Dr. Harden provided an overview of enrollment trends for OCS, highlighting key details about first-day and last-day enrollment figures over the past decade.”

The minutes quote Harden as saying at each meeting that Oconee County Schools “enrollment has slightly declined and is now back to pre COVID levels.”

First Table

Harden presented the committees with two table, one showing First and Last Day enrollment numbers going back to the 2015-2016 school year and the other showing enrollments back to the the 2016-2017 school year for each of the system’s schools. (A bar chart accompanied the first table.)

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The first table shows enrollments climbing from 7,247 students in the 2015-2026 school year to 8,552 in 2023-2024, based on the First Day counts.

First Day Enrollment then fell to 8,526 in 2024-2025 and to 8,267 at the beginning of this school year.

Last Day Enrollment grew to 8,543 students in 2022-2023 and then fell in each of the subsequent years, to 8,446 at the end of last year.

Last Day Enrollment at the end of the last school year was 80 students lower than First Day Enrollment at the beginning of the school year.

According to the minutes, Harden told the committees that “at the end of last year, 54 students left to return to their home countries.”

Second Table

The second table shows that enrollments decreased at Oconee County Primary School (-56 students), Dove Creek Elementary School (-44 students), High Shoals Elementary School (-36), Malcom Bridge Elementary School (-22), and Rocky Branch Elementary School (-25).

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Enrollment increased by seven students at Oconee County Elementary School and was unchanged at Colham Ferry Elementary School.

Overall elementary and primary school enrollments fell by 176 students.

Enrollments fell by 28 students at Dove Creek Middle School and by 25 students at Malcom Bridge Middle School.

Enrollment increased by 20 students at Oconee County Middle School.

Across the three middle schools, enrollment fell by 33 students.

Oconee County High School reported 82 fewer students at the beginning of this school year than at the beginning of last year, while North Oconee High School had 32 more students.

High School enrollment across the two schools fell by 50 students.

School Capacities

Harden included the capacities for each of the system’s 12 schools in the second table.

Each of the system’s school is under capacity, with Dove Creek Middle School being 497 students under the 1,000 student capacity based on First Day enrollments, and Malcom Bridge Middle School at 473 under the 1,000 student capacity.

Oconee County Middle School is 34 students under its 1,000 student capacity.

Oconee County High School is 259 students under its 1,500 student capacity, based on First Day Enrollments.

North Oconee High School is 22 students short of its 1,500 student capacity.

I sent Harden an email message early this morning (Oct.1) and copied the summary of her comments at the two advisory board meetings as reflected in the minutes available on the school board web page. (The meetings were not public.)

I asked Harden if she wanted to add anything to that account.

She wrote back just after noon and said “This is fine and, at this point, I have nothing to add.”