Student enrollment numbers across the Mid County area shed light onto pre and post Harvey attendance.

Nederland Independent School District saw a growth in the number of students, superintendent Robin Perez said. Their most recent numbers show 1,546 high school students and at one point the district gained 180 students. Some of the new students have gone back to their school districts leaving a total of 123 additional students.

Most of the additional students came to the district due to Tropical Storm Harvey, which affected about 80 percent of homes and businesses in neighboring Port Arthur. NISD also saw a few students from Puerto Rico and Florida as those communities dealt with hurricane damage as well.

“As a result we had to hire more teachers to keep class size down to the 22 to one ratio for kindergarten through fourth grades,” she said.

The district hired a kindergarten, a first and a fifth grade teacher.

Port Neches-Groves Independent School District did not see an influx or drop in the total number of students when compared to the beginning of the school year and neither have they had to add any new staff, according to information from the district.

PNGISD’s attendance/total enrollment at the beginning of the school year was around 5,100 while last year it was just under 5,000 total.

The two Mid County school districts are facing quite different issues than Port Arthur Independent School District, which saw a decrease in the number of students, post Harvey.

Districts across the state submitted their Snapshot numbers on attendance to the Texas Education Agency in late October. PAISD anticipated and saw a drop in attendance due to the storm’s flooding that displaced many residents.

The Snapshot information, which is also used for Public Education Information Management System, or PEIMS, helps determine the amount of state and local funding due to districts under Texas law because it tells the state how many students are enrolled for the semester.

October’s Snapshot had the district’s student enrollment at 2,041. It was roughly 600 students fewer than the district normally has. The Memorial High School campus accounted for nearly 100 of those students.

School districts that lost enrollment will not lose funding. Governor Greg Abbott stated that part of Texas’ Economic Stabilization Fund, or “Rainy Day Fund,” would be used to help those public schools that lost students due to displacement and other storm-related factors.