Enrollment trends continue to be on the rise at Des Moines Public Schools as the school district has had increases eight of the past nine years.
While many urban school districts across the country have seen declines in recent years, enrollment at DMPS has grown by 78 students over last year, and now totals over 33,000 students. Enrollment today at DMPS is more than 2,200 students higher than a decade ago.
The certified enrollment for the 2017-18 school year at DMPS is 33,057. That is 2,274 higher than the certified enrollment ten school years ago, or an increase of 7.4% over the past decade.
This school year 60.8% of the student body are students of color, just over one out of five students are English Language Learners, and nearly three out of four students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
The following table compares the K-12 enrollment and demographics between the current school year and last year:
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | Change | |
| Certified Enrollment | 32,979 | 33,057 | +78 |
| DEMOGRAPHICS (PK-12) | |||
| Free and Reduced Lunch | 70.3% | 73.1% | +2.8% |
| English Language Learners | 21.0% | 20.7% | -0.3% |
| Special Education | 13.7% | 14.5% | +0.8% |
| White | 40.4% | 39.2% | -1.2% |
| Hispanic | 25.7% | 26.1% | +0.4% |
| African American | 18.8% | 19.4% | +0.6% |
| Asian | 7.8% | 8.0% | +0.2% |
| Multi-Racial | 6.5% | 6.5% | n/c |
| Native American | 0.5% | 0.4% | -0.1% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.2% | 0.2% | n/c |
State funding for public education is based, in large part, on a school district’s certified enrollment.
Click here to download a copy of the 2017-18 DMPS Enrollment Report. (Excel file)