A new report shows that thousands of school districts risk closure due to "massive" enrollment loss.
The warning stems from an analysis of national enrollment data by the Brookings Institution and some reporting from The 74.
Their analysis came after Brookings researchers found a decline in elementary and middle school enrollment, a one-fifth loss of their enrollment.
"Enrollment declines are everywhere," Brookings Institution fellow Sofoklis Goulas said. The report also noted Jackson Public Schools voted to close 11 schools and merge two of them. Some of these schools saw a loss of 30% or more of their students since 2018.
Plenty of school districts saw decreases similar to that of Jackson Public Schools, the report states, and that number more than doubled between 2019 and 2021.
The report explained further that the decline is projected to continue throughout the decade and that Oregon, New Mexico and West Virginia are among the states expected to see an enrollment decline "at least another 10%."
The districts residing in states’ large metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Albuquerque saw a decline of 20%. Enrollment declines also occurred in the south, such as Memphis-Shelby County Schools in Tennessee, the DeKalb County School District near Atlanta, and "several in Texas."
The decline forces administrators to make budget cuts to extracurricular activities, cut labor, or merge classrooms.
Over 1,400 schools in California saw a drop in enrollment of at least 20% during the pandemic. A phenomenon that was driven by several factors, including record-low birth rates and high costs of living, especially in Silicon Valley.
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Enrollment at the San Francisco Unified School District dropped from 53,000 students in 2012 to 49,000 students now, according to ABC 7 News.
On top of enrollment, the school district has reportedly faced numerous challenges ranging from a severe financial crisis and a staff shortage.
"Other families left districts during school closures for private schools and charters. All of these factors add up to fewer school-age children attending traditional public schools," the Brookings report stated.
The Brookings Institution report came after a new report showed that charter schools have made significant gains over the past four years.
The report showed an uptick in charter school enrollment from 2019 to 2023. More recently, charter school enrollment grew 2% while district enrollment plateaued.
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The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reported that charter schools gained more than 300,000 new students, an increase of 9% over the last four years, while district-run public schools lost 1.5 million students at the beginning of the pandemic. Enrollment for public schools has not rebounded over the past three years, researchers at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reported.
