SY 2026-27 Enrollment Analysis

Enrollment data as of May 12, 2026. Source: District 65 memo to School Board, May 18, 2026. Numbers will shift as lottery placements are finalized for King Arts Magnet, ACC, and TWI.

Building Utilization

Building capacities are from the district’s own utilization projections for SY27. No school exceeds 82% utilization. Nichols MS (81%) and Chute MS (75%) are the most utilized. At the low end, Willard (43%), Dewey (50%), and Lincoln (52%) sit at roughly half capacity. The district-wide average is approximately 60%.

Total Enrollment by School and Program

This chart shows how enrollment at each school breaks down by program: monolingual, TWI (Two Way Immersion), Dual Language (middle school), ACC (African Centered Curriculum), and RISE/STEP.

Class Size Concerns: DEC Contract Limits

The District 65 teachers’ union (DEC) contract sets maximum class sizes: K-2: 23 students, 3-5: 25 students, 6-8: 28 students. Several schools have monolingual grade enrollments that either exceed or sit just below these limits, creating a difficult choice: one oversized class that violates the contract, or two undersized classes that strain staffing resources.

Red bars show the class size as a single section (exceeding the DEC limit); blue bars show the class size if split into the minimum sections needed to comply. In many cases, splitting creates classes of just 12-15 students – potentially too small to justify the staffing cost. Key examples: Dawes grades 1 and 2 (25 students each) split to just 12.5 per class. Washington grade 2 (24 students) splits to 12. Foster grade 5 (26) splits to 13. Dewey grades 1 and 2 hit the same problem. Washington grade 1 (23 students, orange) sits exactly at the K-2 max.

Detailed view for each elementary school. Red dashed line is the DEC contract maximum for that grade band. Red bars exceed the limit; orange bars are within 15% of it.

Middle School: Dual Language Enrollment

Haven’s Dual Language middle school program appears significantly underenrolled with fewer than 10 students in 7th grade and 12 in 8th grade. At Nichols, 39 6th graders in the DL program likely fill two classes of ~20, which aligns with projections. Chute has no DL program. These low DL numbers at Haven are worth scrutiny given the district’s stated goal of expanding class sizes elsewhere to manage costs.

Dual Language & TWI Program Enrollment

Elementary TWI programs are concentrated at Foster, Washington, Dawes, Dewey, and Oakton. Foster and Washington carry the largest TWI enrollments. Note that kindergarten TWI placements have not been finalized – 87 applicants are still pending language screening results.

Student Demographics

Racial composition varies substantially across schools. Orrington, Lincolnwood, and Haven are majority White, while King Arts and Foster have significantly higher Black and Hispanic/Latino populations. Willard is 72% White; Foster is 33% Black and 46% Hispanic/Latino.

English Learners, IEPs, and Low Income

Foster has the highest rate of English Learners (34%) and Low Income students (65%). King Arts has the highest IEP rate (24%). The distribution of these populations across schools is uneven – Lincolnwood, Willard, and Orrington have markedly lower rates across all three measures.

Permissive Transfers

Of 268 confirmed permissive transfers, Foster accounted for 100 outgoing (37%). Lincolnwood was the top destination with 53 incoming, followed by Walker and Willard at 39 each. The district notes that 49% of all transfers were families seeking to remain at their current school after boundary changes, not families choosing to leave.

Kindergarten Registration

Kindergarten registrations are down 34% from the same point last year (157 vs. 238 in May 2025). Every school is below projections. The district attributes this to delayed registration opening (February 1 vs. the typical December 1), the complexity of the new school assignment process, and staff reductions. TWI kindergarten placements are not yet finalized – 87 applicants are pending language screening.

Expectations vs reality:

Using Scenario 1A from SDRP (closing Kingsley only), comparison of enrollment. Nearly all schools are under projected enrollment, even if counting the 87 yet-unassigned TWI students.

Elementary Schools

School	SY25 Actual	SY27 Projected	SY27 Registered	vs. Projection
Dawes Elementary	294	337	260	−77
Dewey Elementary	316	372	285	−87
Lincoln Elementary	334	328	301	−27
Lincolnwood Elementary	283	280	310	+30
Oakton Elementary	361	403	327	−76
Orrington Elementary	218	226	234	+8
Walker Elementary	345	304	287	−17
Washington Elementary	403	441	348	−93
Willard Elementary	345	261	246	−15

New / Closing Schools

School	SY25 Actual	SY27 Projected	SY27 Registered	vs. Projection
Foster School (new)	—	452	~316 *	~−136 *
Kingsley Elementary (closing)	326	—	—	—
Dr. Bessie Rhodes (closing)	251	—	—	—

Magnet / Choice Schools

School	SY25 Actual	SY27 Projected	SY27 Registered	vs. Projection
Dr. MLK Jr. Literary & Fine Arts	415	415	428	+13

Middle Schools

School	SY25 Actual	SY27 Projected	SY27 Registered	vs. Projection
Chute Middle School	567	551	591	+40
Haven Middle School	642	664	603	−61
Nichols Middle School	609	656	572	−84

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Data from District 65 SY 2026-27 Projected Enrollment Update memo, May 18, 2026. Values reported as “<10” in the original document were back-calculated from row totals where possible. Raw data (CSV files).