Student enrollment in Jeff Davis Parish public schools is down for the fall semester, with the district seeing a drop of over 150 students, according to Superintendent John Hall.

Hall shared the fall enrollment counts with school board members during a meeting Thursday.

Total enrollment for the parish as of Sept. 18 is 5,254, Hall said.

Official enrollment numbers will be reported to the state Oct. 1, with Minimum Foundation Program funding to be distributed to the parish based on the student population. A second student count will be conducted in February 2025.

“I am concerned anytime we have a decrease and I try to look at the reasons why it decreases,” Hall said. “Traditionally those numbers change during the year too, so Oct. 1 we will get another count to turn into the state.”

Like many other parishes across the state, enrollment across Jeff Davis Parish has been declining since the pandemic, Hall said.

“Allen Parish is actually one of the few parishes around us that has leveled out this year with their attendance,” he said. “All the parishes statewide are dropping since Covid, but Allen Parish has leveled out to which they haven’t lost very many.”

The latest drop reflects a trend in more families wanting to homeschool their children, Hall said.

Assistant Superintendent Ben Oustalet noted that many public on-line schools have waiting lists.

“We are finding that a lot of people are very mobile in education,” Oustalet said.

In addition, Oustalet said many students in the Fenton and Lacassine areas are enrolling in schools in Iowa, La which are located within the Calcasieu Parish school district.

Current enrollment figures show a decrease at 10 of the parish’s schools with two schools seeing an increase in students, Hall said.

Welsh Elementary School experienced the biggest growth with 20 more students than the previous year. Elton High School also showed an increase of four students.

Lacassine High School reported the biggest decline with 36 fewer students, followed by Hathaway High School which has 29 fewer students and Elton Elementary which is down 23 students.

Fenton Elementary and Jennings High were both down by 17 students; Welsh-Roanoke Junior High down 12; Lake Arthur High and Welsh High both down 9 students; Jennings Elementary down 2 and Lake Arthur Elementary down 3.