Houston ISD’s enrollment likely will remain close to its 2018-19 totals after two consecutive years of losses, according to preliminary data and district officials.

Preliminary enrollment figures shows about 208,000 students in the state’s largest district as of mid-September, nearly identical to enrollment totals at the same time last year. The district will still need to add another 1,800 students between now and the end of October, when the Texas Education Agency requires districts to take an official student count, to match its 2018-19 total.

"What this data indicates, to us, is that we're on track to be very close to where we were last year," said Rick Cruz, HISD's chief strategy and innovation officer.

While enrollment is projected to hold steady, HISD is expected to have an additional $135 million to spend this fiscal year following a landmark school finance reform package passed by state legislators this spring. The money will go toward raises for teachers, increasing the district’s minimum wage by $2 per hour and state-required spending on various academic programs, among other costs.

However, HISD could face future spending cuts if the district returns to losing students. HISD officials are partnering with the University of Houston’s Institute for Educational Policy Research and Evaluation, as well as the Houston Education Research Consortium at Rice University, to study reasons why families are leaving the district.

Preliminary losses were spread across dozens of schools, though several reported declines exceeding 10 percent. They include Lamar High School, which dropped from roughly 3,140 students to 2,775 students as the Upper Kirby campus undergoes an extensive renovation, and Wheatley High School, which fell from 875 students to 780 students after receiving its seventh-consecutive failing grade from the state in August.

Several smaller HISD elementary schools saw enrollment increases topping 10 percent, including Arabic Immersion Magnet School, Kashmere Gardens, Mitchell and Wesley. Several high schools also added hundreds of students.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to add information related to Houston ISD's projections for enrollment growth before the October 2019 enrollment snapshot.