Dr. Jerry McKibben has been conducting demographic studies for Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools for a very long time. For most of that long time, he would forecast the rate of student growth.

His latest forecast was presented to the school board Wednesday night. It expects a slight downturn in the district’s student enrollment.

The student count for the current 2024-2025 school year is 20,698. The 2029-2030 student number is forecast to be 20,425.

McKibbben’s last forecast was slightly off, with 428 fewer students than he had expected. That was off by less than one-half of one-percent.