For Another Year, Hispanic Enrollment Grows In Montgomery County Schools

Montgomery County’s kindergarten class is made up of more Hispanic students than children of any other racial or ethnic group for the third year in a row, a trend that school planners say is likely to continue in Maryland’s fastest-growing school district.

Hispanic children account for 32 percent of all kindergartners, according to September enrollment figures. By comparison, 29 percent of kindergartners are white, 20 percent are African American and 13 percent are Asian.

Montgomery’s first- and second-grade classes break down similarly.

“People have been saying Montgomery County is changing, Montgomery County is changing, and the fact is, we’ve changed,” Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr said in an interview Friday. “This trend has been going on [for] a while, and now we see it at the elementary level . . . and we expect it to continue.”

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