Dec. 19, 2025
For the 2025-26 school year, the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) welcomed 142, 403 students as of the end of September count date. At the December 16 public board meeting, Trustees received the
2025-2026 Enrolment Report that outlines enrolment across CBE schools from September 2024 to September 2025.
While enrolment remained flat compared to last year, this is a welcomed reprieve since between September 2021 to September 2024, the system increased by over 17,000 students, which could fill about 30 elementary schools. Currently, CBE’s system utilization is 95 per cent. The CBE strives to maintain a utilization rate at or around 85 per cent to ensure that facilities are optimized for educational purposes. This aligns with the government’s definition of a fully utilized school. Of its 251 schools, 166 or 66 per cent are at 85 per cent utilization or greater.
Enrolment Comparison of End of September 2024 to 2025
|
|---|
| Sept. 2024
| Sept. 2025
| Difference
|
|---|
Pre-K
| 40
| 33
| -7
|
|---|
Kindergarten
| 9,082
| 8,310 | -772 |
|---|
Grades 1-3
| 32,654
| 32,071 | -583 |
|---|
Grades 4-6
| 31,244
| 32,047 | 803 |
|---|
Grades 7-9
| 30,794
| 31,051 | 257 |
|---|
Grades 10-12
| 35,902
| 36,230 | 328 |
|---|
Subtotal
| 139,716
| 139,742 | 26 |
|---|
Self-Contained Special Ed.*
| 2,686
| 2,661
| -25
|
|---|
Total
| 142,402
| 142,403 | 1 |
|---|
| *Self Contained Special Ed represents system classes at the school level such as ACCESS, ALP, CSSI, etc. See report for program descriptions.
|
The report shows the largest increases in Division II (Grades 4 to 6) and Division IV (Grades 10 to 12). Kindergarten saw the largest decline at 772 students, and Division I (Grades 1 to 3) having the next largest drop at 583 students.
High enrolment continues to put pressure on the system and results in some schools being overflowed or only accepting new students through lotteries. As of September 2025, 32 schools, or 12.7 per cent of all CBE schools, have overflow plans in place. While that is down from 36 schools last year, it is still considered high compared to previous years, when 21 schools had overflow plans in 2022-23 and 12 in 2021-22.
The report outlined a slight increase of the enrolment number in Alternative Programs. As of September 2025, there are 28,016 CBE students enrolled, which represents an increase of 258 students or 1.7 percent from the previous year.
Non-Canadian student admissions have continued throughout the summer and fall of 2025, and while the overall number has declined, the admissions from the CBE Welcome Centre remain high. The need for additional schools and modular classrooms remains to address utilization and enrolment pressures, and to ensure students have access to appropriate learning environments. The
CBE’s 2026-2029 Three-Year Capital Plan and 2026-2027 Modular Classroom Program outlines CBE’s most recent requests.
