HPS Enrollment Continues to Grow, Now Exceeding Recent Projections

Update: At the September 5, 2019 Hopkinton School Committee Meeting, the Superintendent updated the public with the latest enrollment numbers. There are currently 3,902 students this fall in grades PreK-12. These numbers have now exceeded the December 2018 NESDEC projections by 103 Students, and enrollment may continue to rise throughout the school year.

Update: At the August 15, 2019 Hopkinton School Committee Meeting, the Superintendent updated the public with the latest enrollment numbers. As of August 15, there are currently 3,864 students expected this fall in grades PreK-12 (this includes enrolled students and students who have begun the pre-enrollment process). These numbers have now exceeded the December 2018 NESDEC projections by 65 Students, and enrollment may continue to rise throughout the school year.

At the July 18, 2019 Hopkinton School Committee Meeting, the Superintendent updated the public with the latest enrollment numbers. As of July 17, there are currently 3,815 students expected this fall in grades PreK-12 (this includes enrolled students and students who have begun the pre-enrollment process). At the moment these numbers are still in line with the NESDEC projections from December 2018, but enrollment will likely rise through August before school actually begins.

NESDEC Hopkinton Enrollment Projections 2018-12-17 (PDF)

This year the largest class is grade 11 with 329 students, grades 3, 7 & 9 are also over 300 students. Residential development is expected to continue at Legacy Farms in the coming years.  This year (as of 4/1/19) there are 342 students from Legacy Farms (an increase of over 100 from last year).  Occupancy permits have been issued for 669 of the total 1,120 Legacy Farms units approved (60%). There is an average of 0.15/student per unit in the Legacy Farms Woodview Apartment Complex, and an average of 0.71/student per unit in the Legacy Farms North & South Villages. “The Trails” at Legacy Farms (175 units) is an over-55 development in the works that has a deed-restriction designed to prevent any HPS students from living there.

HPS Students in Legacy Farms 4/1/19 – Report to Planning Board (PDF)

The Legacy Farms Host Community Agreement has provisions in place if the enrollment exceeds the specified numbers. Both provisions have been met:

• Provision 1 – if total exceeds 250 students within 6 years of the first Certificate of Occupancy (6/27/2013), Legacy Farms is obligated to pay $500,000 to the schools.
• Provision 2 – if total exceeds 266 during the period of time expiring 1 year after the date of the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the final dwelling unit or the expiration of 18 years from the filing of the Notice (18 years from 7/31/2012), whichever is earlier, a one time payment of $270,000 for each increment of 30 students is required.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) had originally certified an enrollment number of 355 K-1 students for the Marathon School on Hayden Rowe Street. However after updated projections, the town voted at Special Town Meeting in January 2017 to spend $1.5 million to add 4 additional classrooms to the Marathon School. As of 7/17/19 Hopkinton Public Schools will have 547 students enrolled in Grades K-1, this is 192 more students that originally certified by the MSBA for the building.

HPS HISTORIC ENROLLMENT & PROJECTIONS BY YEAR

HPS 2019-20 ENROLLMENT BY GRADE