OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The state’s largest school district says it has seen a drop in enrollment, but officials say it could have been worse.

Over the past five years, officials with the Oklahoma City Public School District say the district has lost thousands of students to other districts and charter schools.

In 2019, just under 37,000 students made up the school district compared to just over 41,000 in 2014.

Last year, the district reorganized with the ‘Pathway to Greatness’ plan. Officials say they predicted a decline in enrollment but say a bold change was needed.

Although they were prepared for a dramatic drop in enrollment, they say things could have been much worse.

“Predictably, districts lose between 10 and 15 percent of students for a short period of time and we didn’t see that decline so it’s something that we’re really hopeful about is that the trade-ups that we were able to bring to the schools through the Pathway to Greatness have retained more students than we might have expected,” said Rebecca Kaye, Oklahoma City Public Schools Chief of Equity & Accountability.

Administrators predict the district will lose about 1,000 more students over the next year.

At its peak, Oklahoma City Public Schools boasted an enrollment of 75,000 students in 1968.