Enrollment growth in Madison schools has not kept pace with population growth in Madison and its suburbs, or with enrollment growth in surrounding districts. Why is that?
There are competing interests. There’s choice, there’s the perception, there’s many reasons why families choose to send their children to our schools. I want us to improve that. I want us to be the district that people want to send their children to.
A year ago, I asked our team this question: What is the enrollment strategy for the Madison Metropolitan School District? And I was not satisfied with what I heard and the efforts underway, so we began about a year ago creating some enrollment strategies for MMSD. Part of that is understanding what the rates of our enrollment are, what the historical trends are, and with a lot of folks talking about the growth in Madison and the vicinity, it’s a really important time for us to ensure that our district is looked at as a reason why people want to come to Madison and enroll in our schools.
What do you mean by “perception”?
I know during COVID, we were one of the districts that was closed. There were other districts that were open. I know that at times we get the perception that our schools aren’t safe, that they’re unruly. Many times there are narratives that can perhaps happen in one school and it becomes a blanket perception about all of our schools. These are things in a larger district — especially in a growing city like ours — that we just have to work together as a large community, one that does really value its public schools.
Are you surveying families who live in the Madison district but decide not to go to district schools?
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