Arlington Public Schools opened the 2024-25 academic year with nearly 500 more students than at the same point a year before, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members in his Sept. 5 start-of-school recap.
The tally of 27,889 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade on Sept. 3 was up 475 from the same point last year, and was closing in on the number projected in the school system’s budget adopted in springtime.
“We’re very close,” Durán said.
State law sets Sept. 30 as the date of the official count of each locality’s student body.
During pre-COVID times, projections were for sustained, significant growth in Arlington’s student population into the future. But more recent calculations envision flat growth, with the total number of students in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade hovering between 28,000 and 29,000 for the next decade.
While most of its teaching positions have been filled, Durán said there remained 41 vacancies as of early September, most at the secondary-school level.
