A Penns Valley school is without a kindergarten class this year. How do other districts compare?
When Miles Township Elementary students returned to their classrooms on Tuesday, one group of students was conspicuously absent — the kindergartners.
This year, Miles Township will not have a kindergarten class. Instead, it will combine its nine students with the larger class at Penns Valley Elementary, which will host two kindergarten classes for the year. The kindergarten classes at Penns Valley Elementary will remain there until they graduate to Penns Valley Intermediate.
Moving the students helps balance class sizes, Superintendent Brian Griffith said.
“What would have happened is Penn Valley Elementary would have had 28 or 29, so you move nine over, and then you divide that, then you’re in good numbers, right?” Griffith said.
According to Pennsylvania Department of Education data, Miles Township had 16 kindergarten students in 2023-2024 and 21 in 2022-2023.
The process of shifting students around isn’t uncommon, with Penns Valley Area moving Miles Township Elementary’s fourth-grade class to PVE two years ago in a similar situation. Principal Katie Bish said that it isn’t unusual for enrollment to ebb and flow within a district.
“It’s a whole grade level not here, but that’s just kind of the cycle through enrollment,” Bish said. “We’re able to utilize the space as much needed space for the guidance classes to have, and we still have our first, second, third, fourth grade to fill in those gaps.”
Below is a look at data on Centre County school districts’ kindergarten registration numbers for the past five years.
Bald Eagle Area
2023-2024: 99
2022-2023: 123
2021-2022: 98
2020-2021: 113
2019-2020: 94
Bellefonte Area
2023-2024: 178
2022-2023: 198
2021-2022: 204
2020-2021: 194
2019-2020: 197
Penns Valley Area
2023-2024: 76
2022-2023: 83
2021-2022: 88
2020-2021: 96
2019-2020: 106
Philipsburg Osceola
2023-2024: 108
2022-2023: 102
2021-2022: 120
2020-2021: 100
2019-2020: 140
State College
2023-2024: 432
2022-2023: 429
2021-2022: 445
2020-2021: 411
2019-2020: 468
