Leer en Español, traducido por El Vocero Hispano
Multiple districts — As the 2025-26 school year gets underway, kindergarten enrollment continues to trend downward, and districts are keeping a close eye on the number of students populating the bottom rung of the K-12 system.
The reason why kindergarten enrollment weighs so heavily on the minds of education leaders may seem self-evident; after all, districts’ school-aid dollars are based on student counts. But kindergarten class sizes also play a key role in practical matters like staffing, logistics and short- and long-term planning.
“Kindergarten enrollment helps districts gain a greater understanding of the enrollment at higher grade levels, into the future,” said Cedar Springs Superintendent Scott Smith. “Kindergarten is that first establishment of a baseline. … It provides us with some insight as to how we can plan for the next five to six years, at least.”
Cedar Springs has seen a 40-student drop in kindergarten enrollment in the last nine years. According to MI School Data, there were 231 kindergartners in 2024-25 compared to 271 in 2015-16, which is as far back as the site’s data goes.
Cedar Springs isn’t alone. MI School Data shows that kindergarten enrollment throughout the Kent ISD service area has declined by hundreds of students since 2015-16, when there were 8,928 kindergartners in the area compared to 8,279 in 2024-25.
“It’s bigger than Cedar Springs,” Smith said. “It’s bigger than Kent County, it’s bigger than West Michigan, it’s bigger than Michigan.”
‘There are three legs to the stool’
District leaders say birth rates, job availability and a scarcity of affordable homes are contributing to the continuing declining rates.
“There are three legs to the stool: you’ve got to have a strong school, a strong district that really, effectively, matches pitch with the students and families in the district; you’ve got to have a strong economic base and employment base; and you’ve got to have a strong housing base,” Smith said.
He said housing is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle.
“If we had 100 houses for sale, in nice neighborhoods, for under $250,000, we’d sell them by the end of the weekend — straight up,” Smith said. “And those families would bring children, and they’d be enrolling in Cedar Springs Public Schools, or Rockford Public Schools, or East Grand Rapids Public Schools. The lack of affordable housing is what’s driving school enrollment.”
Steve Matthews, superintendent of Rockford Public Schools, shares Smith’s concerns. Rockford went from 703 kindergartners in 2015-16 to 670 in 2024-25. That number was up from 646 in 2023-24, but Matthews noted that developmental kindergarten students are included in that tally.
Matthews said housing affordability is definitely a contributing factor, more so than families leaving the district for private school, charter school or homeschooling.
“Things are expensive these days. Homes in Rockford, the average cost is $400,000,” Matthews said. “Most young families can’t afford those homes, so they might move in when their kids are in second or third grade as opposed to when they’re in preschool or kindergarten.”
One district that’s faring pretty well in terms of kindergarten enrollment is East Grand Rapids.
The district actually saw an increase in kindergartners over the past several years, going from 184 in 2015-16 to 195 in 2024-25. Figures have gone up and down a bit over the years, reaching a high of 225 students in 2020-21, and a low of 175 in 2016-17, but on the whole, the district has held steady.
“We’ve been able to maintain (enrollment) over the years, but that, I think, is attributed to district move-ins,” said Jason Hoogenstyn, East’s director of teaching and learning. “East Grand Rapids continues to be a sought-after area for living.”
Still, Hoogenstyn said the district is keeping near-constant watch on the situation by following birthrate data and making projections about what to expect in the future.
“It’s something that we’re monitoring,” Hoogynstyn said. “It’s a delicate balance of student numbers that we’re watching to make sure that we can continue program offerings, but we’re always looking toward projections.”
‘Kindergarten is that first establishment of a baseline. … It provides us with some insight as to how we can plan for the next five to six years, at least.’
— Cedar Springs Superintendent Scott Smith
Other Factors
Smith, Matthews and Hoogenstyn each pointed to declining birthrates as a major factor in decreasing kindergarten enrollment.
Between 2013 and 2023, Michigan births dropped from 113,732 to 99,179, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Births in Kent County decreased from 8,832 in 2013 to 7,836 in 2023.
“It’s just that people aren’t having as many children, and they’re not having them in their 20s,” Matthews said. “They’re having them in their 30s, and it really impacts schools and school enrollment. It’s a challenge for districts to try to plan for that.”
Smith, at Cedar Springs, said employment opportunities also play a part.
“The puzzle is very complex and it has deep-rooted elements of the housing market and employment opportunities,” Smith said. “Even though a family loves a community, they can’t live there if they can’t have a place that they can afford to live, and if their job is 30 miles away so they can’t drive their kid to school.”
Adding good jobs to communities would be almost as impactful as adding affordable homes, Smith said.
What Districts are Doing
Districts are addressing the issue in various ways. For the first time this year, Rockford has opted into an expanded School of Choice program that will allow students from neighboring counties to attend Rockford schools.
Rockford has also repurposed Parkside Elementary into an early childhood center, in hopes of expanding its ability to get families rooted in the district early on.
“We know there’s a lack of high-quality early childhood opportunities throughout the state, throughout West Michigan, so (we’re) creating that opportunity right here in Rockford,” Matthews said. “Young families will come, they’ll see the opportunities and benefits of a Rockford education, and then they’ll make a commitment to stay in our community and bolster or stabilize our kindergarten enrollment.”
East Grand Rapids, too, is focused on bolstering early learning opportunities. The district is in the process of expanding Woodcliff Early Childhood Center; as a result of the expansion, East will be able to shorten the waitlist for WECC, and get more students and families in the door.
“We’re fortunate, with the WECC expansion, that we’ll have more opportunities for enrollment here,” Hoogenstyn said. “That’s the hope — where you have students who will attend that will naturally feed into the East Grand Rapids school system.”
Smith said Cedar Springs is focusing on giving students the best school experience possible.
“If our students are feeling engaged and supported, and have just a positive experience when they come, then our families are going to have positive experiences, and those families are going to tell other families,” Smith said. “A billboard isn’t going to make someone come to Cedar Springs. It’s positive word of mouth. … Great things are happening here, and it’s continuing to get the word out about those great things that are happening.”
Looking Ahead
So what’s predicted for the future?
Hoogenstyn said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that there will be an uptick in kindergarten enrollment in the coming years. Matthews said enrollment rates are already starting to stabilize, but it’s unlikely that they’ll reach past levels anytime soon.
“I think it’s bouncing back a little bit, but we don’t anticipate, in the short term, that we’ll get back to where we were eight or nine years ago,” Matthews said.
If the situation doesn’t improve, districts may be faced with some tough choices down the line.
‘People aren’t having as many children, and they’re not having them in their 20s. They’re having them in their 30s, and it really impacts schools and school enrollment. It’s a challenge for districts to try to plan for that.’
— Rockford Superintendent Steve Matthews
Matthews said that if kindergarten rates were to drop precipitously, districts — especially in rural communities — may have to look into the possibility of consolidating.
“In districts like Rockford, we’ll always have a pretty stable population,” Matthews said. “Whereas in smaller communities, the challenges will be greater. Because people are looking for employment, people are looking for housing opportunities, career opportunities that they might not find in those smaller and rural communities.”
Smith said it’s all going to come down to birthrates and other population trends.“If people start having more babies in 2025-26, then in 2030-31 we’re going to have more kindergartners,” Smith said. “If there’s affordable housing.”
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