The State - News from July 21, 1987

California public school enrollment will grow by 31.4% between last year and 1996, a state agency said. Schools had 4.3 million students in the 1986-87 school year and are expected to have 5.7 million by 1996-97, the Department of Finance’s Population Research Unit said. Enrollment is predicted to rise by 2.3%, or 99,621 students, this fall, hitting 4.4 million, the agency said. Elementary schools are projected to grow the most. They will increase by 3.9%, or 116,000 students, between 1986 and 1987 and by 33.3%, or 998,000, between 1986 and 1996. The number of secondary students is expected to drop by 1.3%, or 16,500 students, between 1986 and 1987, but grow by 27.1%, or 354,000, over the 10-year period. Secondary school enrollment is expected to decline between 1986 and 1989 because of the “baby bust” of the early 1970s.