South Dakota schools grew by more than 600 students this year. What districts saw the most?

Enrollment in South Dakota’s public K-12 schools grew by more than 600 students this school year, according to the South Dakota Department of Education’s fall 2022 headcount enrollment numbers released within the last week.

The student census is calculated by students who are enrolled more than 49% of the school day at each district on the last Friday in September. Census counts differ from state aid fall enrollment, which includes all of the students for whom a district is financially responsible.

Public K-12 enrollment grew to 138,075 students this fall, an increase of 607 students from 137,468 in fall 2021.

2021's student census:Data: DOE reports South Dakota's public K-12 school enrollment grew by 1,400 in 2021

The state’s largest public K-12 school district, Sioux Falls, grew by 228 students this year, from 24,046 last year to 24,274 this year.

After Sioux Falls, the four next-largest public K-12 school districts in the state are Rapid City Area (12,643 students), Harrisburg (5,888 students), Brandon Valley (4,924 students) and Aberdeen (4,326 students), respectively.

Race data from the DOE shows Sioux Falls’ racial diversity grew more than one percentage point this year, similar to estimates the district made in October. More than 58%, or 14,136, of the district’s students are white, while 41.8% or 10,138 students are non-white, including 3,568 Latino, 3,030 Black, 1,804 multiracial, 1,085 Indigenous, 611 Asian and 40 Pacific Islander students.

More:Nearly 42% of Sioux Falls School District student population is ‘racially diverse’

Sioux Falls’ neighboring public K-12 school districts saw the following enrollment changes this year:

• Baltic grew by 14 students, from 560 in 2021 to 574 in 2022.

• Brandon Valley grew by 117 students, from 4,807 in 2021 to 4,924 in 2022.

• Canton did not see any change in enrollment this year, remaining at 874 from 2021 to 2022.

• Dell Rapids shrunk by 3 students, from 985 in 2021 to 982 in 2022.

• Garretson shrunk by 24 students, from 462 in 2021 to 438 in 2022.

• Harrisburg grew by 189 students, from 5,699 in 2021 to 5,888 in 2022.

• Lennox grew by 20 students, from 1,131 in 2021 to 1,151 in 2022.

• Parker grew by 5 students, from 476 in 2021 to 481 in 2022.

• Tea grew by 129 students, from 2,160 in 2021 to 2,289 in 2022.

• Tri-Valley shrunk by 19 students, from 964 in 2021 to 945 in 2022.

• West Central shrunk by 3 students, from 1,416 in 2021 to 1,413 in 2022.

More:How Sioux Falls ended up with Brandon, Harrisburg and Tea Area schools in its city limits

Private K-12 school enrollment in South Dakota grew by 537 students in 2022, from 14,531 students in 2021 to 15,068 students in 2022. Here’s how Sioux Falls’ largest local private school systems grew this year:

• Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools, the largest private school system in the state, grew enrollment by only 1 student, from 2,193 in 2021 to 2,194 in 2022.

• Sioux Falls Christian grew by 76 students, from 1,270 last year to 1,346 this year.

• Sioux Falls Lutheran grew by 3 students, from 216 last year to 219 this year.

The DOE did not release headcounts for homeschool enrollment across the state this year or in 2021.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: What South Dakota school districts saw the most student enrollment growth this year?