SYRACUSE — Although numbers sometimes don’t tell the whole story, when it comes to enrollment numbers for many rural or smaller school corporations, those numbers are not so positive.

On more than one occasion, Dr. Tom Edington, superintendent of the Wawasee Community School Corporation, has talked at school board meetings about the trend of enrollment numbers declining for many rural or smaller school districts statewide. In an interview in his office Thursday afternoon, Oct. 24, he talked about a Ball State University study showing more than half the counties in rural areas in the state are projected to lose population in the next 10 years.

“The population is shifting to the more suburban areas,” he said.

Within the last 10 years, Wawasee’s enrollment has dropped by approximately 500 students. Going back even further to 2000, when Edington said Wawasee was at its peak in enrollment, there were about 3,600 students but the most recent number released in September is below 3,000.

Why this has happened can be attributed to multiple factors. “We have added some new housing, but the number of housing starts is down in Kosciusko County,” Edington said, noting this is despite a healthy economy.

When the recession hit around 2009, many new platted subdivisions in the county were left with empty lots to fill. What is typically happening now is those lots are being sold one or two at a time and new homes are being built, but few, if any, new larger subdivisions are being platted.

Edington pointed out there are some moderately priced homes near lakes that have often become a second home for someone who doesn’t live year round in the local area. “Those homes could be used by families,” he said.

When houses are up for sale around lakes, “young families are not moving into those houses but instead retirees are,” Edington added.

In addition to the lack of available and affordable housing, the trend is showing families are becoming smaller now, he noted. “The number of babies being born is projected to decrease,” he said.

Wawasee’s drop in enrollment between the 2018-19 and current school year could largely be attributed to a gap existing between a smaller kindergarten class this year and a larger high school graduating class last year.

Another factor is a lack of available child care. When the Kosciusko County Community Foundation did its series of community meetings earlier this year throughout the county, child care was often brought up as a major concern. Edington agreed it is a big problem.

For an example, there are some kids living within the Wawasee school district who attend a school outside the district. Often the reason why is due to a family situation involving child care.

“It (child care) can affect enrollment if the parents are working elsewhere,” he commented.

Why the population is shifting to more urban areas and also college towns has a lot to do with more opportunities being available, access to child care and health care and other reasons. Edington observed there are jobs available in the local area, but the lack of housing and-or child care is more often the problem.

Wawasee administrators are aware of the trends and have been looking at different options to see if the child care situation can be improved.