Start-of-school enrollment in Arlington is down from a year before and below springtime projections, but could move higher by the time a final tally is compiled at the end of the month.
Arlington Public Schools counted 27,603 students in pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade classes on Sept. 4, Superintendent Francisco Durán reported to School Board members that evening.
That’s a decline of slightly more than 1% from the 27,889 students counted in class on Sept. 3, 2024, as the 2024-25 school year kicked off.
The start-of-school figures represent interim data. All Virginia school divisions will submit a final count to the Virginia Department of Education based on Sept. 30 enrollment figures.
The Sept. 4 enrollment number was 819 students below projections announced last spring, with the largest shortfall (619 students) at the elementary-school level. Middle schools had 102 fewer students than projected, while high schools had 98 fewer.
Those numbers “could slightly edge up” before the official count is taken, Durán said. He will provide a full update in early October.
Durán had largely upbeat remarks on the kickoff to the 2025-26 school year, calling the Aug. 25 first day of classes “a special milestone filled with possibility and hope.”
“We’ve had a great start … a successful beginning to the year,” he said, acknowledging that “we always have room to grow and there always are issues to address.”
The school system started the school year with 23 teacher vacancies, down from 41 at the beginning of school last year, according to county figures. Special-education positions remain among those most challenging to fill, school officials said.
Superintendent hopes for quick resolution in court battle: Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members Sept. 4 he is hopeful that a federal judge will render a decision “very quickly” in the battle between the school system and U.S. Department of Education.
Arlington Public Schools filed suit to overturn a determination of the Trump administration that the division was out of compliance with Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972. That code provision regulates nondiscrimination policies for educational institutions that receive federal funding.
As he has from the start, Durán said the school system’s approach to transgender students and access to bathrooms and locker rooms is legally valid.
“Our policy is consistent with both state and federal law,” he said.
In addition to Arlington, the Education Department has found Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the city of Alexandria out of compliance with Title IX owing to gender-identity policies. Like Arlington, the Fairfax County School Board has filed suit challenging the determination.
