Soaring enrollments of Latinos in the Los Angeles Unified School District are not to blame for overcrowded conditions in schools because enrollment figures only passed the peak numbers from the baby boom era in recent years, according to a UCLA study.

It was not until 1996 that enrollments surpassed the baby boom peak in 1969 of 650,324 enrollments, according to “LAUSD Enrollments, 1966–1998: Shrinkage, Then Recovery, While the City Grew” by the Center for the Study of Latino Health & Culture at the UCLA School of Medicine.

The growing Latino population began to provide a recovery in 1981 to LAUSD enrollments since school district population declined greatly in the 1970s from the 1969 baby boom high. With enrollments now surpassing the baby boom peak, overcrowded LAUSD classrooms are a reality.

Current increases in enrollment are tied to Latino fertility. Latino fertility in California since 1981 is nearly identical to the state fertility levels in the 1950s and 1960s during the baby boom, researchers found.

“With the Latino enrollment only helping to bring the total enrollment numbers back up to the previous peak, blame for overcrowding cannot be pinned on Latino children,” said David Hayes-Bautista, director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health & Culture. “Variables beyond the sheer number of children attending LAUSD schools need to be examined to determine the causes of overcrowding, such as the number of classrooms, faculty and administrators.”

According to the study, LAUSD enrollments began to decline when the “baby bust” that began in 1965 translated into fewer enrollments five years later. The baby bust and declining enrollment continued through the 1970s. However, the rise of the Latino population, beginning in 1981, translated to higher enrollments in the LAUSD. The vast majority of the increase in the Latino enrollments came from children born in the United States, rather than immigrants; 96 percent of the Latino children age 4 and under were born here.

“While there are more Latino children enrolled in LAUSD than ever before, we need to remember that they are almost all U.S. citizens whom we are educating,” Hayes-Bautista said.

During the time period researchers reviewed — 1969 to 1998 — the population in the city of Los Angeles actually grew steadily, according to the study. The city’s population grew by 32.8 percent, compared to an LAUSD enrollment growth of 7.1 percent during the same time period. At the time of the peak LAUSD enrollment in 1969, the Los Angeles population was 2,292,400. By 1998, the population increased to 3,716,040.

Statistics show the ratio of LAUSD children per total population went down from the LAUSD peak baby boom enrollment in 1969. At that time, there were 23.2 LAUSD enrolled children for every 100 Los Angeles city residents. By 1998, there were 18.7 LAUSD enrolled children per 100 residents. The “enrollment burden” was 19.4 percent less in 1998 than it was in 1969.