The Boise School District’s enrollment is down 699 students compared to last fall, according to a report presented to the school board Monday. 

The 3% dip isn’t a surprise. District leaders projected and planned for a 600-student decrease when they set their budget for the current school year. 

And it continues a trend that started about a decade ago. Since 2015, Boise’s enrollment has dropped 22%, from 28,078 to 21,805 this fall.

On Monday, district administrator Jason Hutchison gave trustees two possible reasons for the downward curve: a declining birth rate and a lack of affordable housing in Boise.

While Idaho’s population is growing, fewer residents are having children. Between 2005 and 2024, the birth rate among women ages 15-44 decreased from 78.9 per 1,000 to 58.6 per 1,000, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. 

The slowing birth rate means fewer students entering school, and that’s been a trend across Idaho’s public schools in recent years. Between the 2021-22 and 2025-26 school years, kindergarten enrollment statewide dipped 8.5% while 12th-grade enrollment increased 9.9%. 

In Boise, both elementary and secondary enrollments have decreased. But younger grades have decreased at a faster rate. This fall, Boise lost 428 elementary students compared to 271 secondary students. 

“Anytime your seniors are outpacing your incoming kindergarten class annually, which ours have been doing … you have a gap in enrollment,” Hutchison said. 

There are also students who were previously enrolled in the Boise School District but left for various reasons. Exit data shows that among the students who left the district during the 2024-25 school year: 

• 57% transferred to another public school district or public charter school 
• 17% moved to another state 
• 8% transferred to a homeschool setting 
• 7% transferred to a private school. 

Boise trustee Alejandro Necochea on Monday asked district administrators to share with the school board more information on the students who leave midyear. 

“How many kids are still in our community who just dropped out of our radar?” he said.

Idaho Education News previously reported that the district cut funding for 17 jobs in anticipation of the enrollment decline.

Assistant Superintendent Nick Smith said Monday that district administrators will continue to watch enrollment numbers before Nov. 1 — the cutoff for fall average daily attendance, which determines state funding for employee salaries and benefits.

“We do anticipate that (enrollment) will fluctuate between now and Nov. 1,” Smith said, “so we do believe that 600 number that we budgeted on is going to be pretty realistic.”