St. Martin student count holds steady

Official enrollment figures for St. Martin Parish public schools submitted earlier this month to the state Department of Education for Minimum Foundation Formula (MFP) purposes show a slight increase over October 2014.
Comparative figures rose from 8,472 last year to 8,483 this October, an increase of 11 students.
Although enrollment at Breaux Bridge High dropped by 18 students, from 854 to 836, the school remains the largest in the parish. Cecilia High has the next highest enrollment at 798, a jump of 25 from last year.
Cecilia Primary (grades preK-2) holds down the No. 3 spot at 788 students, up by 37 from 2014.
Year-to-year comparisons are difficult to make at three Breaux Bridge schools which underwent a reconfiguration this year. BB Primary was changed from preK-3 to preK-2 so naturally recorded a significant decrease while BB Elementary went from grades 4-5 to 3-5 and BB Jr. High from grades 7-8 to 6-8.
Among the other schools whose configuration remained the same, St. Martinville Primary (grades 2-5) reported the largest increase, from 559 last year to 608, a gain of 49 students. But SMP’s feeder school, the Early Learning Center (preK-1) had the biggest decrease, falling by 39 students to 398.
In looking at the student count by attendance areas, Breaux Bridge schools reflected an overall decrease of 64 students while the St. Martinville area enrollment rose by 48.
Stephensville Elementary and Catahoula Elementary, both preK-8 schools, remain the smallest in the parish. Stephensville reported a decrease from 150 to 133, Catahoula climbed from 233 to 236.