By Traci Newell

Los Altos School District enrollment is expected to rise again this year, according to an enrollment forecast conducted for the district.

The forecast reported that enrollment growth, which in the past has been as high as 3 percent a year, has tapered to 1.5 percent. The district predicts the growth percentage should remain consistent for the next five to six years.

Randy Kenyon, assistant superintendent for business services, said the growth is fairly small.

“I think that it is always good to be in a growth district as long as it is manageable growth,” Kenyon said.

The enrollment report pointed out the rise in kindergarten enrollment. A possible explanation for this, Kenyon said, was the opening of the new full-day kindergarten program, currently operated at the Bullis-Purissima site.

Many parents in the area have kept their children in full-day care or preschool arrangements instead of enrolling them in kindergarten. The first time these children enroll in the district is at the beginning of first grade. Since the opening of the full-day kindergarten program, enrollment for kindergartners has gone up, which may mean the increase from kindergarten to first grade may not be as high as the kindergarten enrollment increase the previous year. As for that prediction, the district will not know until next fall, Kenyon said.

The report said that more students enter the district than leave the district, which has been the case for 20 of the previous 23 years.

“Most of our enrollment growth is due to housing turnover,” Kenyon said. “We expect to see that continuing in the future.”

The LASD enrollment forecast reported a decline in the size of growth since Bullis Charter School opened.

District Superintendent Tim Justus said having a charter school ease enrollment for the district could be looked at as a positive or a negative, depending on the financial situation of the district. Currently LASD is a revenue district, which means funds are proportional to the number of students attending.

In a statement released to the public, Bullis Charter School said it expects to add an additional 60 students at Egan camp school.

Open enrollment for Bullis Charter School has just concluded for the 2006-2007 school year. The school received 350 applications for fall 2006 but has room for only 60 new students. The charter school projects the student population will grow from 230 students to 250 students for the next school year.

Charter school Principal Wanny Hersey said that since the charter school is constrained by the number of classrooms and it does not want to compromise on the programs it provides, it can only accept about 17 percent of the applications.