Currently, there is a hot topic burning throughout Laramie County School District #1 regarding low student enrollment.
In 2019, LCSD #1 had a student enrollment of 14,239 and there were 380 registered homeschool students.
By all indications it appeared we would see student enrollment growth for the foreseeable future at the government schools. But that year has some significance that I will get to here shortly.
Jump forward to the 2024/2025 school year and student enrollment is now down to 12,682.
Additionally, there are now over 650 registered homeschool students. That is a decline of 1,557 or almost 11% of student enrollments and an increase of 41% “homeschoolers."
On May 5, LCSD #1 Superintendent Stephen Newton discussed this issue at a meeting with the Board of Trustees.
As those on the left and leftists masquerading as Republicans do, the excuses to the public and half-truths began. Newton contributed the enrollment decline to low birth rates.
While this is a concern nationwide, it’s only a half-truth narrative that covers up the real cause.
School administrators and lobbying groups, such as the Wyoming Education Association, often seem to deflect responsibility by focusing on external factors rather than looking inward. This creates a sense of dismissal and a "nothing to see here" attitude.
The fact is, according to the Wyoming Department of Health statistics, Laramie County has one highest birth rates in the state.
From 2019 - 2023 Laramie County has averaged 11.4 births per 1,000 people. The state average during this same period is 10.7 per 1,000 people. So the question I ask, is low birth rate really the root cause of the problem?
I mentioned before, 2019 has some significance when it comes to student enrollment. The reason for its significance is because this was the year prior to the COVID “Plandemic”.
Life was good for the government school system raking in hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, once Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon displayed a lack of leadership and allowed the state and local health departments to make the decisions to violate our constitutional rights, shut down our schools, enforce experimental drugs (vaccines) and isolate/mask our children, parents started paying attention to what their kids were and were not being taught.
Parents started noticing that there was more emphasis on leftist woke ideology in the curriculum than there was on reading, writing and math.
As they continued to see what was going on, parents started pulling their kids out of the government schools. Many took on the responsibility of homeschooling their kids, while some transferred them to charter or private schools.
With reading and math proficiencies declining well below 50% in our government schools (some as low as 29%), who could blame them?
Especially given that home, charter and private school students on average score 15 to 25 points higher on standardized tests than those who attend government schools. Oh, and that’s right, they don’t teach leftist woke ideology.
To truly address what LCSD #1 sees as a problem of decreasing enrollment, they need to look inward instead of making excuses to the public by blaming external factors.
They need to acknowledge that they have been the cause of the decline in government education and student enrollment.
A good start would be to remove leftist woke ideology from schools, reduce the over hiring (and overpaying) of administrators, truly support our teachers and cut frivolous spending.
The focus needs to be placed back on educating our children in math, reading, writing, real science and true history.
Until they can prove to the public that they can provide quality education, their government school monopoly will continue to crumble.
Sincerely,
Exie R. Brown, Jr, Cheyenne
