Public school enrollment drops continue during second year of pandemic

Dive Brief:

Most public school districts are logging a second straight year of pandemic-related enrollment declines, adding to the 3% nationwide public school enrollment drop in the 2019-20 school year, NPR reports.
The trend is particularly highlighted in the nation’s largest districts: New York City has seen enrollment fall by about 51,000 students total over the last two years. Los Angeles is down 9,000 students this school year following a 17,000-student decline last year, and Chicago enrollment fell by 10,000 after seeing a 14,000-student decline the year prior.
Educators and researchers believe many of these students are now being homeschooled or are in private or charter schools, but some students may have fallen through the cracks. The youngest learners might be the most affected, as researchers found a 13% drop in pre-K and kindergarten enrollment between fall 2019 and fall 2020.

Dive Insight:

Last summer experts predicted a rebound in public school enrollment, especially once a juvenile vaccine was made available. A survey released in May by COVID Collaborative, the Ad Council and the Council of the Great City Schools indicated 61% of parents planned to vaccinate all of their children.

Findings also showed support for making vaccines and information about them available at public schools, with 80% in favor of that. Nearly three in five, or 59%, parents of children in school supported requiring students to get vaccinated to attend school in person. Almost three-quarters, or 73%, of parents with children in school suggested they would be more likely to vaccinate their children if such a requirement were in place.

While the number of students enrolled in public schools fell, the number attending charter schools increased during the pandemic in at least 39 states. Overall, charters saw a 7% increase in enrollment, equating to a 240,000-student bump in the 2020-21 school year.

U.S. Census Bureau numbers show enrollment for students ages 3 and 4 fell from 54% of the total U.S. population in 2019 to 40% in 2020. Enrollment in nursery schools fell by 25%, from 4.7 million to 3.5 million, and kindergarten enrollment dropped by 9% from 4.1 million to 3.7 million.

Data collected in Michigan and nationally indicated parents based their decision on whether to let their students return to school based on how classes were held. For the most part, in-person districts saw larger enrollment increases than did their remote counterparts. An increase in homeschooling in districts that held in-person instruction indicates parents may also have chosen to homeschool their children out of health concerns.

Family income and race also factored into enrollment trends. In Michigan, drops in kindergarten enrollment were steepest among low-income and Black students. Enrollment drops in the higher grades were disproportionately seen in higher-income and White student groups.