Information was provided by the Communications Department of the Ladue School District.

The last Wednesday of September is “Count Day,” the day districts across Missouri officially record student enrollment for purposes of reporting to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).  This year’s count of Ladue Schools' students reflects an overall increase of 55 students this year over last, resulting in a 23 percent enrollment increase over the last ten years. 

Last year, the 2011-12 school year count reflected 15 less students than the year before, a change equivalent to less than .5%. 

For schools primarily funded by the state and federal government, “count day” numbers drive the majority of revenue a district can expect to receive.  Ladue School District receives less than 4 percent of its revenue from the state government, making enrollment changes nearly irrelevant in terms of funding, but highly important in terms of projecting future expenditures. 

“In the fall of 2013 we will be opening the Fifth-Grade Center at the Ladue Schools West Campus in order to relieve overcrowding in our elementary schools,” explains Superintendent Dr. Marsha Chappelow.  “Classroom space is not the largest issue.  It’s the shared spaces in these buildings, such as cafeterias, computer labs, and libraries, which were simply not designed to serve the number of students currently attending.”

While the district has raised its class size allowances as a result of budget reductions in previous years, actual class size averages for the 2012-13 school year are either close to, or within, the district’s preferable class size guidelines.