School enrollment drops, causes new district woes

Enrollment in the Sequoia Union High School District in the 2025-26 school year is the lowest it’s been in the last decade, a trend mirrored in its feeder elementary districts, according to a demographer report presented by consultant Rob Murray to the Board of Trustees Jan. 14. 

The eight feeder districts have seen a 16% decline in enrollment, overall; declining rates at each of those districts range from 2.5% all the way to 33.1%. 

As a high school district, Sequoia Union has the unique opportunity to see what lies ahead sooner than its feeder schools, and current cohorts enrolled in third grade and younger are particularly small, Murray said. 

The Redwood City School District is the largest feeder district into the Sequoia Union High School District, and has seen a 17.1% decline in the last decade. 

Studies from the district estimate a decline of 1,000 or more students by the 2033-34 school year, RCSD Superintendent John Baker said in a presentation Jan. 13. This decline is coupled with pandemic-era funding expired and revenue not keeping pace with growing costs of operations. 

In response, the RCSD is exploring “strategic resource alignment” to align staffing, services and operations with a smaller organization. Once a district serving nearly 10,000 students, RCSD is estimated to serve closer to 6,400 students in coming years. 

“We have to adjust ourselves according to that number,” Baker said. 

Another feeder district, Belmont-Redwood Shores, has also seen a 8.6% enrollment decrease in that same decade. The district is estimating a decline in approximately 290 students within six years. 

In response, the district is currently exploring the possibility of rescuing the number of middle school programs offered from three to two, in response to enrollment trends and low demand for smaller schools. 

The district offers one comprehensive sixth through eighth grade middle school, Ralston, and two smaller kindergarten to eighth grade schools, Sandpiper and Nesbit. Sustaining all three has become unfeasible, BRSSD Superintendent Dan Deguara said previously. 

There are 168 seats available at each of the two smaller schools. For the 2025-26 school year, 79% of Nesbit is filled, and 70% of Sandpiper. Nesbit serves approximately 1,099 students. 

Board meetings and community town halls have been held by the district to gather input on how the district should move forward, and may include ceasing to offer sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes at one of the two smaller schools.

At a meeting in February, the BRSSD Board of Trustees will decide whether to close the middle school at Nesbit or Sandpiper. The board is also considering whether to restructure its entire middle school program and offer two, more equally sized options, though this option would take much longer to implement. 

While small schools are a draw for many families, within the Belmont-Redwood Shores district and many others throughout the county, the educational model inherently comes with disproportionate costs. When budgeting, it’s quickly in consideration to go. 

Anticipating the lowering enrollment on the horizon, the Sequoia Union High School District is also making a major decision soon regarding TIDE Academy, a small, alternative tech design school. 

The SUHSD Board of Trustees are considering closing the school that opened less than a decade ago due to its high cost of operating — a plight in part due to its by-design smallness and unique population of students served. 

Should the district opt to close the high school for the upcoming 2026-27 school year — a decision that must be made Feb. 4 — previously enrolled or intended students will have to be reassigned, likely to their local, bigger high school. 

TIDE Academy has approximately 198 students enrolled. The largest high school in the district, Carlmont, has approximately 2,381 students.  

While RCSD has yet to consider closing or restructuring schools, its resource alignment strategy includes significant changes to the amount of staff the district can maintain. 

Reducing the equivalent of more than five full-time employees within the district office and the equivalent of 17 teachers across school sites would save an estimated $6.3 million for the shrinking district, Baker said. 

The goal for the resource alignment was to “stay as far away from the classroom as possible,” however, there will be an effect on classroom sizes and student to teacher ratios, Baker said. No cuts to educational and support programs are being considered as part of the savings plan. 

The final list of cost-saving measures, and positions cut, will be approved by the RCSD Board of Trustees Feb. 4.

Though the way each district responds to low enrollment numbers may vary, and the reason for low enrollment is likely due to myriad factors, tough decisions are being made largely based on circumstance and for the sake of sustainability. 

“We’re in a difficult situation and that’s not because it’s a situation of our own making where we were spending money irresponsibly, but it’s the reality,” RCSD Trustee David Li said. “So we have to make choices.”