Zero of 19 Parishes Growing: North Louisiana's Enrollment Freefall

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT

In this series: Louisiana 2025-26 Enrollment.

Nineteen parishes. Zero growing. Every school system in this article's North Louisiana region enrolled fewer students in 2025-26 than in 2018-19.

The three anchor parishes — Caddo^↗, Ouachita^↗, and Rapides^↗ — lost a combined 10,426 students over those seven annual changes, a 12.9% decline. The surrounding 16 parishes lost another 8,084. Together, the 19 parishes fell from 153,041 students to 134,531, a loss of 18,510.

Louisiana's package-reported statewide enrollment moved in the other direction, rising by 18,213 students, or 2.8%, between the same endpoints. The three anchors' share of statewide enrollment slipped from 12.6% to 10.7%.

Seven annual losses for the anchors

Caddo, the region's largest school system, fell from 38,454 students to 32,257, a loss of 6,197 students, or 16.1%. It declined in all seven annual transitions in the package history.

Ouachita^↗ fell from 19,252 to 17,205, a loss of 2,047 students, or 10.6%. It also declined in all seven transitions. Rapides^↗ dropped from 23,179 to 20,997, a loss of 2,182 students, or 9.4%. Rapides declined in six of seven transitions: it lost one student in 2021-22, gained 101 in 2022-23, then resumed declining.

Rapides' 882-student loss in 2025-26 was its largest annual loss in the eight-year package panel. It represented a 4.0% decline.

The anchors' combined loss was largest in 2019-20, at 3,358 students, followed by 2,184 in 2020-21. Their annual loss narrowed to 177 in 2024-25 before widening to 1,471 in 2025-26.

Who is leaving the enrollment count

White enrollment fell by 7,181 students across the three anchors, equal to 68.9% of their total net loss. Caddo lost 3,473 white students, a 31.3% decline; Ouachita lost 2,040, or 17.9%; and Rapides lost 1,668, or 14.4%.

Black enrollment declined too. Caddo lost 3,442 Black students, Ouachita lost 560, and Rapides lost 1,296, for a combined loss of 5,298.

Hispanic enrollment increased in all three systems, adding a combined 1,302 students. That gain was smaller than the losses in either of the two largest racial groups.

The three systems have different enrollment profiles. In 2025-26, Caddo was 65.2% Black and 23.6% white. Ouachita was 54.5% white and 35.7% Black. Rapides was 47.4% white and 40.9% Black.

These package records establish the direction and composition of the enrollment change. They do not, by themselves, identify why families entered or left a district.

The decline extends beyond the anchors

All 16 other parishes in the article's fixed regional set declined between 2018-19 and 2025-26. Winn^↗ lost 25.2% of its enrollment, Union^↗ lost 24.5%, Webster^↗ lost 20.7%, Natchitoches^↗ lost 20.6%, and Morehouse^↗ lost 20.3%.

Bossier^↗, Caddo's neighbor across the Red River, lost 955 students, or 4.2%. In 2018-19, Caddo enrolled 15,681 more students than Bossier. By 2025-26, that gap had narrowed to 10,439. Both systems declined, but Caddo's percentage loss was more than three times Bossier's.

What Rapides found in its own records

Rapides Superintendent Jeff Powell provided direct evidence about his district's latest decline in a written response to The LAEdTribune. Powell said more students moved out of the parish than moved in during the latest year, and more students moved to home school than returned from it. He described those as the two largest gaps in the district's entry and exit records.

Powell said Rapides projects enrollment gains and losses each spring and adjusts staffing through attrition, asking whether each open position is still needed. He also said the district measures what he called Academic Return on Investment for programs and positions.

"Despite budget and enrollment concerns, we continue to experience consistent growth in student academic achievement," Powell said. He added that the district wants families to know "Rapides Parish Public schools can provide a great option for them and their children."

Powell's response is district-specific context, not evidence that the same mechanisms explain losses across the other 18 parishes.

A smaller incoming class

The package's grade-level records offer another measure of the change. Kindergarten enrollment across Caddo, Ouachita, and Rapides fell from 5,928 students in 2018-19 to 5,069 in 2025-26, a 14.5% decline.

That kindergarten trend does not prove a cause. It does show that the three systems' enrollment contraction is visible at the entry point to the grade span as well as in their overall totals.

The regional finding is broader than any one district's explanation: across a stable set of 19 parish IDs and eight years of package records, every endpoint moved down. The three anchors lost 10,426 students, and the rest of the region lost 8,084 more.