Austin ISD enrollment for the first six weeks of the school year is down 0.65 percent when compared to the same period last year but has exceeded projections. The trend of declining enrollment has continued over the past few years and can be linked to several phenomena, such as the cost of living and the popularity of alternative education. “There are a variety of reasons that families are leaving the district,” AISD Communications Specialist Jacob Barrett said. “From competition from charter schools to the affordability in Austin, a lot of folks in central city are getting pushed out further, mostly because of affordability issues.” While enrollment is down districtwide, student numbers exceeded projections for the first time in three years. Membership for the district during the 2016-17 school year was projected to be 82,690, however at the end of the first six weeks, student enrollment was at 83,238 or 548 students above projection. “[Exceeding projections] shows that we are promoting our programs well and that we have desirable programming that folks from other districts can look to and transfer in for,” Barrett said. Barrett explained that if you look at the district in terms of enrollment, schools on the district’s perimeter are pushing maximum occupancy, whereas student numbers at schools closer to the center are waning. “If you look at our enrollment it looks kind of like a donut,” he said. “It’s hollowing out in the middle, but all of those schools at the perimeter of our district are bursting at the seams.” In December 2014 the AISD board of trustees adopted a policy to allow out-of-district transfers for students whose parent or guardian is not an AISD employee. This helped to alleviate the loss of students whose families were forced to move outside of the district due to issues with housing affordability. “We do offer that option,” Barrett said. “If you are in an AISD school, for example, and your rent goes up and you can't afford to stay within that school’s attendance zone you can apply for a transfer to be back in AISD. So the student can stay where they are familiar and we can help families out that way.” This school year’s first six weeks of enrollment total includes 1,434 approved applications for out-of-district transfers, 802 of which are from families that are not AISD employees. Transfers are typically accepted, Barrett explained, unless the school has reached maximum capacity, in which case it is placed on a “frozen transfer” list. During the 2016-2017 school year, the district received 7,819 new requests for transfers, of which it approved 90.7 percent. According to an AISD news release, when combining the newly approved transfer requests with those of students continuing on previous transfers, the total is approximately 16,000 students transferring into or within AISD. This equates to nearly one in five students attending an AISD school on transfer. Superintendent Paul Cruz attributed robust enrollment numbers to a committed staff and an increase in success rates. “Every day our teachers and staff show up excited and ready to help Austin ISD reinvent public education, and I am thankful for their work,” he said. “With graduation rates at an all-time high and SAT and ACT scores that exceed the state and national average, it’s an exciting time for all 83,238 of our students.”