Licking Heights: From 30 Asian Students to 1,471 in a Decade

Thu, 21 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

In 2015, Licking Heights Local had 30 Asian students. They made up 0.8% of enrollment, a rounding error in a district that was 61.2% white. By 2026, the district enrolled 1,471 Asian students, 28.0% of its student body. White enrollment fell to 29.0%. No other Ohio district with more than 1,000 students has undergone a comparable demographic inversion this fast.

The shift did not happen because white families left. Licking Heights grew 36.6% over the same period, from 3,846 to 5,252 students, while Ohio as a whole lost 88,804. The growth was driven almost entirely by new arrivals: families from Nepal, Somalia, and dozens of other countries who settled in the affordable subdivisions spreading east from Columbus into western Licking County.

A suburb that doesn't look like its neighbors

Licking Heights sits 20 minutes east of downtown Columbus, straddling the Licking-Franklin county line. Its neighbors are overwhelmingly white. Lakewood Local is 91.0% white. Granville Exempted Village is 89.2%. Johnstown-Monroe Local is 85.4%. Heath City is 84.0%.

Licking Heights is 29.0%.

The contrast is not subtle. Within 15 miles of each other, one district operates with more than 50 languages spoken in its hallways while its neighbors function as essentially monolingual systems. Southwest Licking Local, which shares a border and has also grown rapidly (up 30.3% to 5,024 students), shows the early stages of a similar pattern. Its white share has dropped from 89.9% to 68.0%, and its Asian enrollment has climbed to 15.0%.

The Nepali pipeline

The engine of Licking Heights' transformation is a settlement pattern centered on Nepali and other South Asian immigrant families. Asian enrollment grew from 30 students in 2015 to 241 in 2018, then accelerated: 666 by 2020, 1,094 by 2022, and 1,471 by 2026. The growth averaged more than 130 additional Asian students per year over the full period.

Laura Mickelson, an English language coach who has been with the district for 18 years, described the staffing response to Ideastream Public Media:

"When I came here, I was the third full time ESL teacher. Now, we're up to 17 teachers. We still need more."

The district's English learner count rose from 539 (12.0% of enrollment) in 2019 to a peak of 967 (19.0%) in 2023, roughly one in five students. That rate was nearly five times the statewide average of 4.0% that year. It has since eased to 803 (15.3%) in 2026, still triple the state's 5.0% rate.

Separately, the district has hired three bilingual assistants who speak Nepali, French, Fulani, Liberian Creole, Sierra Leone Creole, and other languages. It now sends all communications in English, Somali, Spanish, and Nepali.

Why Licking Heights and not Granville?

The mechanism is straightforward: housing cost and community gravity. Licking Heights' attendance area includes newer, affordable subdivision development in the western part of Licking County and the eastern edge of Franklin County. Granville, by contrast, is a historic village with higher home prices and smaller lots.

Jhuma Acharya, the district's family engagement and diversity specialist, told The Reporting Project:

"People see the school district as one of the main attraction points."

The same article noted that students and their families moved to the district "seeking job opportunities and a sense of community." Immigration scholars describe this as chain migration: once a critical mass of families from a language community settles in a school district, others follow because the services, translated communications, and cultural familiarity are already in place. Licking Heights' investment in multilingual infrastructure may itself have accelerated the pattern.

The Columbus metro area hosts Ohio's largest Somali population, concentrated in Franklin County. Licking Heights' position on the Franklin County border places it within commuting distance of Columbus employment while offering suburban housing stock. Ideastream reported that Mickelson anticipates continued growth, particularly with Intel preparing to open a plant nearby and large housing developments under construction.

Three-way parity

The demographic outcome is unusual. Most diversifying districts follow a two-group pattern: white enrollment falls while Hispanic or Black enrollment rises. Licking Heights has produced something closer to three-way parity.

In 2026, Black students made up 33.1% of enrollment (1,741 students), white students 29.0% (1,524), and Asian students 28.0% (1,471). Hispanic students accounted for 5.8% (302). The Black-white crossover happened in 2024, when Black enrollment (1,675) edged past white enrollment (1,670) for the first time.

Black enrollment at Licking Heights was already substantial in 2015 (1,022 students, 26.6%) and grew modestly to 1,741, a 70.4% increase. The Asian surge is what reshaped the composition, diluting every other group's share even as most groups grew in absolute numbers. White enrollment did decline in headcount, from 2,355 to 1,524 (a loss of 831 students, or 35.3%), the one group that shrank in both share and absolute terms.

The infrastructure scramble

Growth of this magnitude is expensive. The district passed a $66 million bond issue in May 2022, funded primarily by Franklin County voters who approved the measure even as Licking County voters narrowly opposed it. The bond is paying for a new elementary school (Lima Ridge, opened October 2024 with capacity for 900 students), a high school addition for 300 to 350 more students, a new bus garage, and an athletic complex.

Kurt Scheiderer, the principal of Lima Ridge, told The Reporting Project that the new space was already filling a need that existing buildings couldn't meet:

"I would say by 2030 we'll have to build another elementary."

The growth rate, however, is decelerating. Licking Heights added 231 students in 2023, then 91 in 2024, 50 in 2025, and 31 in 2026. Whether this reflects a natural plateau as the district approaches capacity or a temporary pause before Intel-driven development brings the next wave is the central planning question for the district's administration.

What the EL dip may signal

The English learner count peaked at 967 in 2023 and declined to 803 by 2026, even as total enrollment continued to inch upward. Two mechanisms could explain this. Students who entered as English learners may be reclassifying as English-proficient after several years in the program, a normal part of the EL lifecycle. Alternatively, the rate of new immigrant arrivals may be slowing. The data cannot distinguish between these explanations. Both could be operating simultaneously.

The decline matters for staffing. Districts receive additional state and federal funding tied to EL counts; a sustained drop from 19.0% to 15.3% would reduce the revenue available for the multilingual infrastructure that Licking Heights has built. The district employed 14 ELL teachers and three bilingual aides across six buildings as of 2022. Whether that staffing level holds depends on whether the EL count stabilizes or continues to fall.

What Intel will bring

Intel's $28 billion Ohio One semiconductor fabrication plant is under construction in neighboring New Albany, with a projected 2031 opening. Housing developments are already spreading through western Licking County to accommodate the expected population influx. Southwest Licking's own shift, from 89.9% to 68.0% white over the same period, suggests the pattern is already dispersing across the county.

Lima Ridge Elementary opened in October 2024 with capacity for 900. Its principal expects the district will need another elementary by 2030. In a state where most districts are closing buildings, Licking Heights is building them. The $66 million bond passed because Franklin County voters, many of them newer residents who chose the district precisely because of its diversity, voted yes. The community that transformed the district is now funding its expansion.

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