LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Enrollment in California's public schools has dropped for the fifth straight year as the state begins to emerge from two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just over six million students were enrolled in state public schools in the 2020-2021 school years. But that number, according to the California Department of Education (CDE), is down nearly 2% — at just over 5.8 million students enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year.
In a statement released by the department, officials said the enrollment decline has been steady in public schools statewide since the 2014–2015 school year — which means the pandemic isn’t the only factor contributing to the issue and that the decline will likely continue.
Large urban districts in the state accounted for one-third of the drop in the current year, CDE said, with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s annual decline close to 6%.
Recent reports published suggest that both Chicago and New York also saw significant declines for the second year of the pandemic, according to the CDE.
As the pandemic is also a known factor related to the decline, the CDE said to address issues like lack of engagement or chronic absenteeism, it is providing support to districts statewide to help them reach families of students who are simply not showing up to class.
“Special attention is also being placed on boosting transitional kindergarten and kindergarten enrollment.” the CDE said
“And helping schools to meet the needs of families around transition years and to offer options and pathways to keep high school students connected.”
The department said, in an effort to increase funding, it is sponsoring both Senate Bill 830 — which “could provide school districts with financial supports [and] resources to create outreach strategies to re-engage with students/families with increased barriers during the pandemic,” — and Assembly Bill 1640, which would “increase the base grants to amounts equal to the national average per-pupil funding level.”
Trends found in the CDE’s most recent report indicate that the largest decreases have occurred in first, seventh and ninth grade.
Race and ethnicity data from 202-2021 and 2021-2022 shows that the highest rate of decline has occurred in the White population, with a 4.9% drop. By comparison, African American students have declined by 3.6%, Asian students have declined by 1.9%, and Hispanice/Latino students have declined by 0.9%.
Increases have occurred in kindergarten and 12th grade classes, according to the CDE.
“Under state law enacted during the pandemic, school districts will not experience a decline in revenues due to decreases in attendance in the current academic year,” the department said.
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