Boise
Idaho's Chronic Absenteeism Recovery Has Nearly Stalled
The numbers told a recovery story for two years. Idaho's chronic absenteeism rate fell from its pandemic peak of 20.6% in 2021-22 to 17.1%, then 15.0% — steep, reassuring drops that suggested the atte...
Idaho Is 17,871 Students Below Its Growth Curve
For 17 years, Idaho's public schools grew like clockwork. From 2002 to 2019, the state added an average of 3,522 students every year, a pace so steady that a simple line drawn through the data explain...
Boise Shrinks While Its Suburbs Nearly Triple
In the shadow of Nampa's four closed elementary schools, the Vallivue School District broke ground on two new ones. The districts share a border. They do not share a trajectory.
35 Districts at Record Highs, 38 at Record Lows
Vallivue School District enrolled 10,700 students this fall, an all-time high. Twenty miles east, Boise Independent District enrolled 21,717, an all-time low. The two districts sit in the same metro a...
Boise Has Lost 4,458 Students in Nine Years
In 2002, Boise Independent District was Idaho's largest school system. It enrolled 26,321 students, 1,260 more than its suburban neighbor to the west. Twenty-four years later, Boise enrolls 21,717, a ...
Idaho's Growth Era Is Over
For 18 consecutive years, Idaho's public schools grew. Every fall from 2003 through 2020, more students showed up than the year before. The state added 65,807 students during that stretch, a 26.7% exp...
Nine Students Changed Idaho's Largest District
In the fall of 2002, Boise Independent District enrolled 26,321 students, making it the largest school district in Idaho. West Ada District, headquartered 10 miles west in Meridian, had 25,061. The ga...
Idaho Publishes 2025-26 Enrollment Data
For three straight years, Idaho has been losing students. The first decline, in 2023-24, was small enough to attribute to noise — a 592-student dip after an 18-year growth streak that added nearly 66,...