Open enrollment proved to be a lifeline for the Park City School District this year, helping to counteract a trend of declining student population and keep classrooms full.
The district considered several solutions to address the reduction in student numbers and ultimately opted to allow families from outside its traditional boundaries to enroll in kindergarten through fifth grades. Officials say that decision has helped to bring stability and even out the effects of shifting populations in the Park City area.
Randy Upton, the district’s business administrator, said opening the primary and elementary schools has “changed the trajectory.” Now, he expects the student population will remain just about 4,000 for the next several years.
Upton told the school board this week that, while total enrollment is down by 68 students, open enrollment and in-migration, which is anything from move-ins to employees bringing their kids to school, have helped offset greater declines. Sixty-five students were accepted through open enrollment, and in-migration was just under 120 students, according to the Oct. 1 report.
There were 4,117 students in fiscal year 25 compared to 4,049 this year, though changes varied by school. Parley’s Park Elementary School lost 25 students, McPolin Elementary School gained 25 students, Jeremy Ranch Elementary School gained two students, Trailside Elementary School lost one student, Ecker Hill Middle School lost 42 and Park City High School lost 27 students.
There was an unexpected surge in the ninth grade, which increased by more than 80 students and led to scheduling challenges. However, the new cohort helped balance high school enrollment numbers overall.
Superintendent Lyndsay Huntsman said there’s typically a return during 10th grade, when students leave Treasure Junior Mountain High for the high school. However, Treasure Mountain was decommissioned at the end of the 2024-25 school year, so district officials speculated that this factored into students coming back to the district earlier than they had in the past.
District “survival ratios” also showed more than 100% progression in several grades, meaning some classes are seeing more students advance than were enrolled the prior year — a sign of incoming transfers or increased retention.
Upton also noted that one of the “main causes” of decreased enrollment is that the upper grades have larger class sizes than the lower levels. There are 200 more graduates than kindergarten students coming in, which he said has been the average for the past few years. Upton projected about four more years of a K-12 differential at that level.
Upton added that the school district was “late in the game” in announcing open enrollment this year and anticipated more students would sign up in the future with additional time.
New developments in the area could also affect future enrollment. Board members discussed the Silver Summit community, which is in the South Summit School District but in proximity to Park City elementary schools. Children would be able to attend the Park City School District through open enrollment.
Upton’s report also stated that more than 10% of students listed Spanish as their native language, and there has been a sharp reduction in applications for free or reduced-price lunch programs.
Board members questioned whether families were hesitant to apply because they feared providing too much information to the federal government, particularly related to immigration status. District officials were unsure whether the district’s lunch debt was increasing, if students were bringing their lunch instead or simply not eating.
Upton said officials would continue to collect data and report it to the school board.