At the high school level, there were 46 new students, including 13 children from parochial and private schools, 21 who transferred into the school from other county schools, and 12 BRAC-related students, Thibeault said.
Ninety new students enrolled in middle school, including 18 students who transferred from private and parochial schools, 50 students who transferred from other public schools in the county and 22 students related to BRAC, he said.
"We have definitely started to see the impact of BRAC," Thibeault said. "Surprisingly, they are not all coming from New Jersey. We have kids coming from Florida and Texas who say they are here because of base realignment and their [parent's] job has been transferred here."
Harford Friends School also saw an increase from 19 middle school students last year to 28 students this year, said Huxtable.
Despite the increase in the number of students in the middle school, tuition increased from $9,600 to $10,400 this year. About 32 percent of the school's students received financial aid, with an average award of $3,600, he said.
In addition to the economy, the late selection of a first-grade teacher played a role in the lack of first-grade applicants, Huxtable said.
"We weren't in any hurry to choose a teacher," he said. "We wanted to find the best teacher for the job. The problem is that the teacher wasn't chosen until late May, and parents like to meet the teacher and know who will be teaching their children."
However, the growing economic woes are keeping enrollment in the county's 54 public schools about the same each year, as families feeling the pinch of the economy opt to put children in public schools.
Official enrollment figures for the school district won't be disclosed until Sept. 30 because of attrition and student mobility during the first month of school. As of Aug. 20, there were 38,045 students enrolled, said Teri D. Kranefeld, manager of communications for the county's public school system.
And although 56 teaching positions were eliminated through attrition, 35 new teaching slots were added, Kranefeld said.
Some private schools weren't as hard hit by decreasing enrollments.
St. Margaret's School in Bel Air had a decrease in enrollment of 25 students, down from 875 in the 2007-2008 school year, said Cecilia Pleiss, the school's admissions director.
However, the school's budget is not enrollment-based, so the number of children attending does not greatly affect how much is budgeted each year, she said. Their tuition increased only to cover the rise in the cost of living, and it was minimal, she said.
