Looks like there are a couple of ways to look at whether or not to count the stitches on the needle as a row. And experienced knitters even disagree with each other.
Here’s TECHknitting’s answer to the question: http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-count-rows.html
Here’s Amanda Schwabe’s answer (which differs from TECHknitting’s answer): http://aknitica.com/2014/10/23/how-to-count-rows-in-knitting/
I was always taught that the row you use to cast sts on is not the first row that you knit hence patterns will say..
Cast on xx sts
Row 1 knit
Row 2 knit
have a fun week!!