Metro Atlanta Schools See Demographic Shift

May 29th, 2013

The Atlanta Regional Commission has issued a report showing a demographic shift in metro Atlanta school districts.Listen to the audio version of this story.

In 2000, six percent of metro Atlanta public school students were Latino. That number grew to 16 percent by 2012. In the same year, the white student population was 37 percent. That’s a 15 percent drop from 2000, according to Mike Alexander, who manages ARC’s Research and Analytics division.

“Hispanic families are younger; they’re having children now,” Alexander says, “They’re enrolling those kids in school. The white population: older than the Hispanic population. A lot of white families have already had their children. Their children are completing school. So, you’re seeing some declines because of that, I think.”

Dr. Dana Rickman is the director of policy and research for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. She says changing demographics can affect the kinds of resources schools need to provide.

“You have low-income students that come with additional challenges for schools and really a significant increase of English language learners, so they’re going to require extra support,” Rickman says.

During the 12 year period, African-American and Asian students grew in number, but comprised about the same proportion of the population.