Public school enrollment fell 3 percent last year and it’s down again this year in major cities, writes Chad Aldeman, policy director of Georgetown’s Edunomics Lab.
A few districts are downsizing to match the fall in per-pupil revenue, but federal Covid aid is allowing districts to keep “under-enrolled schools open and fully staffed in the hopes that students come back.” That’s a dangerous gamble.
Beth Hawkins tells a tale of two cities on The 74.
Already losing students before the pandemic, Minneapolis Public Schools’ enrollment fell by more than 12 percent since fall of 2019-20. St. Paul has lost almost 10 percent.