KITCHENER -- Fewer students are enrolling at schools in the Waterloo Region District School Board.

The board said kindergarten registration has dropped because it's not required.

The pandemic may also have families looking for other options, like homeschooling or private schools.

A meeting agenda showed projected enrolment is down by nearly 820 full-time students.

Enrolment dropped by more than 500 students in October 2020 compared to the same timeframe in the year prior.

There were 64,213 students enrolled on Oct. 31, 2020, compared to 64,721 students on Oct. 31, 2019.

Board members heard the Ministry of Education is providing enrolment stabilization funding to help cover revenue declines at a meeting on Monday night.

Officials at the meeting also said the board should expect at $9.83 million deficit this year, all relating to costs supporting a safe return to the classroom and an anticipated shortfall in the extended day program.

The deficit will be covered by existing reserves, officials said.

The board said more parents are opting for homeschooling.

"We are seeing more interest," said Carlo Ricci with the Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents. "Last year, for example, we would've had 370 members signing up for our newsletter. As of mid-September, that jumped to about 554."

One local private school said the waitlist has grown to more than 80 families.

"They specifically can see how their children are learning and what their children are learning now that their children are at home in front of their computers," Scholars' Hall founder Fred Gore said.

"We were, I think, one of the last parents to get in," said Brent Billing, whose daughter switched to private school. "I can only imagine the waitlist is more pronounced now given the pandemic."

St. John's-Kilmarnock School in Breslau also has a waitlist for the next school year.

Officials with the WRDSB hope enrolment will turn around. Kindergarten registration opened on Monday and there are already more than 500 students expected to start next fall.

With files from CTV News Kitchener's Zayn Jinah