The number of students in Oklahoma public schools increased for the 2014-15 school year, keeping in line with a steady, long-term trend.
Total enrollment for 2014 in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade is 688,300 students, an increase of 6,722 over last year's total of 681,578. From 2010 through 2014, enrollment grew by 28,685.
"As Oklahoma grows, our schools must take on more students. A steady increase in enrollment creates real challenges for our educators, especially in the midst of a teacher shortage and budgetary constraints," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi.
"More funding needs to be allocated for classrooms and teacher salaries, but money alone will not help without strong leadership from school leaders. There are teachers all across Oklahoma who realize that and have shown great success in spite of the increasing load," Barresi said.
The two largest districts in Oklahoma are Oklahoma City Public Schools with 45,297 students and Tulsa with 41,043.
The 10 largest districts in the state are the same as last year, although some have changed rankings.
According to this year's report, Oklahoma's student population is mostly white followed by 15 percent American Indian and 15 percent Hispanic. Black students comprise 9 percent of the student population, and 8 percent claim two or more races. Only two percent of the population is Asian, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Enrollment figures are recorded Oct. 1 annually at every site in Oklahoma's public and charter school districts. That data is then sent to the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) accreditation office.
There are 517 public school districts and 12 charter school districts in Oklahoma, and 1,791 school sites listed on the Oct. 1 count.
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