Public school enrollments soaring.

Public school enrollments for the 1995-96 school year showed significant growth, with a gain of over 658,000 students from the previous year. The enrollment information was collected during the annual phone survey of almost 15,000 public school districts by Market Data Retrieval, Shelton, Conn. Enrollment figures totaled 44,400,000 students--the highest level since the mid 1970s. The growth rate of 1.5% is increasing more rapidly than the population as a whole, which, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, was projected to grow by one percent in 1995.

The top 10 states in terms of the largest enrollment gains as compared to 1994-95 are: California (70,988), Texas (64,082), Florida (61,486), New York (41,970), Arizona (30,821), Georgia (30,421), North Carolina (26,267), Pennsylvania (25,900), Massachusetts (25,120), and New Jersey (22,133).

The biggest enrollment increases were found...