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Burbank Unified projects drop in student enrollment

Students looks at room assignments on a door window on the first day of school at John Muir Middle School in Burbank on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Burbank school officials project that the 2016-17 academic year will begin with 14,884 students.

Students looks at room assignments on a door window on the first day of school at John Muir Middle School in Burbank on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. Burbank school officials project that the 2016-17 academic year will begin with 14,884 students.

(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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The number of students attending Burbank’s 20 schools is expected to dip below 15,000 during the 2016-17 academic year, according to school officials, who discussed the latest trend during a recent meeting.

As of the beginning of January, 15,128 students were in kindergarten through 12th grades in Burbank Unified, which was 159 fewer students compared to the same time last year, according to a district report.

School officials project that the 2016-17 academic year will begin with 14,884 students.

However, more students are enrolling in Burbank Unified from outside the district’s borders — a trend that looks promising to school officials.

The report states that 1,184 students who don’t live within Burbank’s boundaries received permits to attend local schools for the current school year.

That figure is up by 31 students compared to this time last year, according to the district report.

However, 79 students who live in Burbank obtained permits to attend schools outside Burbank Unified for the current school year, said Brian O’Rourke, the district’s director of safety and student services.

O’Rourke suggested making “all of our sites as attractive as possible” to those who live outside the district and want permits to attend local schools.

“They’re all very good schools but, for some reason, some request schools over one other,” he said.

Last year, Los Angeles Unified didn’t release its students to attend schools in other districts until near the beginning of the school year, O’Rourke said.

At the same time, Burbank Unified officials waited until almost the start of the academic year to approve permits for students wanting to attend local schools.

“We didn’t make some decisions on permits until very late, and by that point, parents had already enrolled at other schools,” he added.

Next month, administrators will closely examine the district’s permit process to hopefully improve it, O’Rourke said.

“The earlier we can make those decisions [on permits], the better we’re going to do at retaining students outside the district,” he said.

Other officials speculated on other reasons for the decline in student enrollment. School board member Steve Ferguson said the relatively high cost of living in Burbank could prohibit some young families from settling in the area.

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“Look at property values. Young families can’t afford to buy in Burbank,” he said.

Burbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill said he also wants to pinpoint why parents who applied and received permits to attend the district ultimately chose other districts to enroll their children.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

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