Howard County school officials are breathing a sigh of relief ? for now.
After the system experienced rapid enrollment growth in the 1990s, school officials said projections show the numbers leveling off.
But they are keeping a close watch on new housing developments, particularly those in the western part of the county, as well as housing turnover involving young families buying homes from empty-nesters.
“Communities go through life cycles ? you grow, level off, decline and pick up,” said Schools Superintendent Sydney Cousin, who began his tenure with the school system in 1987 as the director of planning and construction. “During my tenure, I?ve been involved with the building of 30 new school buildings.”
The school system has 70 buildings and enrolls about 48,000 students.
David Drown, manager of school planning, said student enrollment will level off at about 49,000 students in 2012.
“I think we?ve turned a corner. Our biggest jump in enrollment was in 1999 with 1,866 students,” Drown said.
