The Province's school population has been in decline since the 1971/72 school year, when enrolment peaked at 162,818 (see Figure 1) . As of September, 1995, enrolment had fallen to 110,456, a decrease of 32% from 1971/72. The group of students entering Grade 1 in 1995, 7,510 students, was about half the size of the Grade 1 group in the 1971/72 school year. Our overall student population is currently declining by about 3% or 3,500 students per year.

The reduction is a result of both lower birth rates and a greater number of people leaving the Province. The birth rate in Newfoundland is the lowest in Canada. Whereas in 1994 there were an estimated 37,100 preschool children in the Province, Statistics Canada projects this figure will drop by 25% to 28,000 over the next ten years.

This enrolment decline is having a serious effect on the number of students within individual schools - particularly, rural schools. Over the past ten years enrolment decreases of more than 40% have occurred in some of our schools. In fact, 40% of the schools we now operate are classified as "small schools" and virtually all of these are in rural areas.