Horry County Schools on track for 13.5 percent growth in enrollment since 2010

The preliminary 15-day enrollment numbers released by Horry County Schools on Monday shows a 13.5 percent increase in enrollment since 2010.

Data presented by Superintendent Rick Maxey shows an enrollment of 43,376 students on the 15th day of this school year. Last year’s 45-day official enrollment number was 42,465.

The district has been experiencing constant growth over several years, with an 13.5 percent increase since 2010 when the district had 38,200 students.

“What we’re seeing is steady and continued growth,” said Horry County Schools Spokeswoman Teal Britton. “You’re not going to see dramatic changes between day 15 and day 45. And the numbers do fluctuate every day.”

The 15-day numbers could rise and don’t offer an exact comparison to past years, Britton said, but this year’s 15-day enrollment has already surpassed the 45-day enrollment projection for 2016 of 43,283 students.

“I would hope that the increase has something to do with the quality of education that people think we have to offer,” Britton said.

The school board also approved new attendance lines Monday to accommodate three new schools being built.

The new changes will affect the Carolina Forest and Socastee attendance areas.

The new schools are the Carolina Forest and Socastee-area middle schools and the Socastee-area elementary school.

“We went through a series of community meetings during the summer giving parents an opportunity to come out and look at where the proposed changes were going to be,” Britton said. “It’s important to communicate and decide on that early for lots of reasons.”

Britton said the new attendance zones were developed based on where the projected growth of single-family housing would be, as well as taking into consideration the logistics of transportation.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Horry County Schools on track for 13.5 percent growth in enrollment since 2010."