Enrollment growth follows state slowdown

CARSON CITY -- The state's slowed rate of growth is being reflected in its schools.

State demographer Jeff Hardcastle said Wednesday that Nevada's population as of July 1 stood at 2,738,733 residents, 20,396 more people than a year earlier.

That is an increase of 0.8 percent in a state that for decades had annual growth rates that usually ranged from 3 percent to 5 percent.

State Deputy Superintendent of Administrative and Fiscal Services Jim Wells said the demographer's figures are in line with enrollment increases in Nevada's public schools. On count day in September, the student population growth was 0.8 percent higher than during the same time in 2007.

Because of slowed growth, Wells said the state Department of Education has scaled back estimates of the additional state money it will need from the Legislature over the next two years.

He estimated that enrollment growth over the next two years will be 1.73 percent, 7,500 additional students.

If the Legislature, which opens Feb. 2, pays for that growth at a rate of about $5,450 per student, then schools would receive an additional $58 million over the next two years.

"This could not have come at a better time financially for the state," said Wells about slowed enrollment growth. "I think it allows us time to catch up. We have been growing so fast."

Daniel Burns, Gov. Jim Gibbons' communications director, said the administration needs time to sort out what the slowed growth rate really means.

He said Gibbons, who is expected to release his 2009-11 budget request in the next 10 days, must figure out the state's service demands for the next two years.

"Do we need as many teachers or new schools?" Burns asked. "It is a big question."

Hardcastle's figures show that Clark County is home to 71.8 percent of the total state population. Washoe County has 15.4 percent of the state population.

The state demographer's estimates are the official figures used by the Taxation Department for tax distribution purposes.

Hardcastle said that only Churchill County raised objections to his estimates.

Five counties -- Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Lyon and Humboldt -- lost population in the past fiscal year, the demographer said.

Eureka County, which has 1,553 residents, led the state with an increase of 6.5 percent during the year.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.