The latest statewide numbers show that school enrollment in Nevada County is still dropping, like it is, overall, in California. But County Superintendent of Schools, Scott Lay, says if you leave out two out-of-county charter schools for 18 to 26-year-olds that they also operate, enrollment is up for the first time in more than a decade, for the 2018-2019 school year, or an increase of 71 students. He says notable increases include the Grass Valley, Penn Valley, and Pleasant Ridge districts…

Last fall, enrollment increases were also mentioned for the Nevada Joint Union High School District. Lay says more young families are moving back here from even more expensive areas of the state, especially the Bay Area…

Lay says there was also an influx this school year of students from areas hit by wildfires, including the Camp Fire in Paradise. Total enrollment is currently at 10-thousand-88 students. Meanwhile, there was a drop of 49 charter school students, bucking the statewide trend, where enrollment was up by over 10-percent.