Putnam Pre-K Enrollment Back Over 500

Putnam County Pre-K enrollment continues to climb closer to the levels usually seen in the district annually.

Attendance and Enrollment Supervisor Chris Pierce said they started the year with 248 pre-K students and have since climbed to 519. Pierce said they usually enroll about 550 students by the midpoint of the year.

“Usually our high water mark in all district enrollments is in December,” Pierce said. “We just can never tell with families leaving the area and moving into the area and who are receiving help with pre-K enrollment exactly where that number will land.”

Pierce said they will continue to take more students as the district has over 570 seats available for the pre-K age group. Pierce said they are seeing more families turning to private pre-K programs but public enrollment has stayed steady.

“We will take who we can and teach who we can and try to help as many kids as possible if they qualify and enroll and apply,” Pierce said.

Pierce said it is difficult to find any trends when looking at pre-K enrollment as the numbers have been extremely consistent.

“Last year on September 6 we had 496 pre-K students in Putnam County,” Pierce said. “As of about the same date this year, 9/4/24, we had 495 pre-K students so it’s really holding steady.”