Oklahoma Public School Enrollment Climbs

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma's public schools have almost 10,000 more students this year than they did in 2008.

Preliminary enrollment figures were presented to the State Board of Education Thursday. They show that pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment climbed by 9,734 students from last year.

A total of 654,511 students are now enrolled in Oklahoma public schools, compared with 644,754 students last year.

Figures also show that the Oklahoma City school district, with 42,570 students, is now the state's largest, surpassing Tulsa's 41,493 students.

State Superintendent Sandy Garrett says Hispanic students are contributing to most of the statewide growth. Their numbers have climbed by more than 5,500 since last year.

There are 73,172 Hispanic students in Oklahoma's public schools.