Education
School district continues to see enrollment drop
The Georgetown County School District expects to have 209 fewer students in the 2025-26 school year. More than half of the decrease in enrollment is expected in Waccamaw Neck schools, according to a report presented to the Georgetown County School Board this week.
Enrollment this year is 7,824, which is down by 164 students from last year.
The largest decrease in the coming school year is expected at Waccamaw High, the largest in the attendance area. It currently has 792 students. That’s the lowest level since 2013. Enrollment next year is expected to drop to 727, the smallest enrollment since 2008.
The second largest drop in enrollment is expected at Waccamaw Middle, which currently has 328 students. Next year’s enrollment is projected to be 305.
The elementary school enrollment is projected to decline from 504 students to 491 next year.
A small decline is also expected at Waccamaw Intermediate, from 405 students this year to 395.
Waccamaw Neck schools have seen a steady decrease in enrollment in the last few years. There were 2,098 students in the schools last year and 2,029 this year.
With 17 more students, the elementary school was the only school of the four to see an increase in enrollment last year.
Since Coastal Montessori Charter School is only sponsored by the district, its enrollment numbers are not counted in the Waccamaw Neck figures.
The charter school is expecting nine more students next year. The current enrollment is 236.
With 76 fewer students, the next largest decline in enrollment for next year is expected in the five Georgetown area schools, although the high school and McDonald Elementary are both expecting more students than this year.
Kensington Elementary is expected to have the second largest decline in enrollment, 61 fewer students, of all the schools in the district.
After adding 36 students for the 2023-24 school year, thanks in part to the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, the Carvers Bay area is expecting 22 fewer students next year. Only the middle school is projected to have an increase in enrollment.
An increase in the number of students at Andrews High School will help offset a decrease at the Andrews and Sampit elementary schools and Rosemary Middle School next year.
Enrollment in the Andrews area decreased by 87 students from 2023 to 2024. The decrease from 2024 to 2025 is only expected to be nine students.
Total enrollment in the district for the 2025-26 school year is expected to be 7,615, which is 373 students less than in the 2023-24 school year.
Beth Goude, the district’s director data manager, told the school board this week that projections are made by “rolling up” grade levels. This year’s fourth-graders become next year’s projected fifth-graders.
The only grade level that it is hard to predict is kindergarten, since some students join the district after having been in a private pre-school, Goude added. The district uses this year’s kindergarten enrollment for next year.
