NEW — 1:34 p.m. Nov. 5, 2015
The Lake Washington School District serves nearly 28,000 students, making it the fourth largest district in the state. Only the Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma school districts are larger.
The district’s enrollment grew by 1,114 students last year, bringing the total to 27,830 as of Oct. 1, according to a Lake Washington news release.
This year’s increase follows five straight years of enrollment increases, and forecasts expect that to continue. The district is projected to grow to more than 30,000 students by the 2020-2021 school year, according to the news release.
“As our cities grow, so does our enrollment,” said Dr. Traci Pierce, district superintendent. “We are fortunate to serve vibrant, attractive communities where people want to live and work. With this growth comes the challenge to provide classroom space to so many additional students.”
A community task force has worked since December 2014 to develop recommendations for long-term strategies the district can use to address the challenges of additional classroom capacity as well as aging schools.
This task force is in the process of finalizing its recommendations, and will present them to the district’s board of directors in November.