With a substantial rise in enrollment numbers of students in Arlington Public Schools (APS), the number of K-12 students is set to surpass 30,000 by 2020. As of September 2015 there were 25,238 students enrolled in APS, passing the 25,000 mark that was left untouched since 1969.

With an expected growth of at least 2.5% each year until 2021 or 2022, the expected enrollment number for 2017 is 27,491, a 4.5% growth. The total number of students enrolled in APS has been on a constant rise since 2008 and is not expected to slow down until 2026. By 2023 the growth is expected to slow down a bit to 1.7% and by 2026 reach a 0.6% growth.

The birth rates in Arlington are used to estimate the incoming number of kindergarten students each year. From 2004-2008 the recorded number of live births was 2,800 per year. From 2009 to 2014, a period APS refers to as “the wave” hit with a record 3,100 live births recorded each year.

Although APS has taken many steps in the past few years to combat overcrowding such as putting in trailer classrooms for many schools and hiring 387 new teachers, more is needed in order to face this steady rise of enrollment. APS is set to add an elementary school next to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Move H-B Woodlawn to a new location in Rosslyn, build the new Stratford Middle School, and expand Abington Elementary School in Farlington. “It will be interesting to see what the county does with all the adjustments with the school’s,” senior Beraki Yosief said. “All of these accommodations will have many effects on the community in the next couple of years.”