Student enrollment for Clinton City Schools didn’t drop as much as education officials once thought, and superintendent Dr. Wesley Johnson offered a newer report to members of the Clinton City Board of Education last week, showing members the system was actually down 32 youngsters versus the 100 first thought.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, Johnson gave an update to the district’s enrollment numbers, noting that K-12 enrollment was at 2,872, which is down 32 from last year at this same time.
Student enrollment numbers have been an area of concern for the superintendent this school year, with earlier numbers presenting even lower, so Dr. Johnson shared with the board that he was encouraged they had gone up, and this was a hopeful sign for the district.
He provided a chart to the board, showing the enrollment numbers taken on Sept. 4, which totalled 2,865, and again on Sept. 15, showing an increase of close to 70 students from the 10-day report.
Dr. Johnson explained that at “almost this exact time last year the number was 2,904, so we’re at a difference of about 32 students.” The superintendent added that “earlier this year I was telling you a difference of about 100 students, so it’s gotten a lot better.
“We’re going to continue to watch these numbers,” Johnson stressed, adding that including Pre-K in the numbers totaled 3,015 this year, with last year’s enrollment total equaling 3,049, with a similar difference of 34 students.
Dr. Johnson told the board that the first principal monthly report had been finalized, with the second one to be finalized at the end of next month. These reports are how the Department of Public Instruction determines schools’ funding, the superintendent reminded the board. He explained that once PMR2 is finalized the district will know more about what its funding will look like for the 2027-28 school year.
“It would be great if we could get about 30 more kids to come in between now and then,” the superintendent stressed, “but we’ll just have to see how that goes.”
August numbers
Just last month, Johnson presented the 10-day enrollment report, which showed more of a decline than the September numbers.
“This is the first time we’ve seen a number like this,” Johnson told his Board of Education at the August meeting, after reporting the district was down 100 students from the 10th day of the previous school year, making this most recent number encouraging, he said, even if the number is still below last year’s.
In August, Johnson told the board that Clinton City Schools’ 10th-day enrollment was 100 students below the same point in the 2025-26 school year and 45 students below enrollment at the end of last school year.
The numbers help determine the amount of staff allotted to schools as well as funding for the following year, Johnson explained. He said those figures should be officially determined by the end of September.
The superintendent said he believed the district could “get close to the end of last year” in enrollment but does not expect it to reach the number recorded at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.
Johnson also told the board in August that only eight public school districts in North Carolina gained students last year and that Clinton City Schools was one of two in eastern North Carolina. He noted that enrollment numbers can change “pretty drastically” from the start of school until later in the year.
Once the second principal monthly report is finalized next month, the district will know more about what funding will look like for next school year.