1.5 million students left during pandemic and ‘do not appear to have returned
In the second half of the 20th century, enrollment in U.S. public schools nearly doubled. There was some slowdown during desegregation as enrollment in private schools surged. However, growth resumed by the early 1980s at a little less than 2% each year. But by the late 1990s, the growth rate began to noticeably slow, eventually falling to under 0.5% annually. Public school enrollment peaked in 2019 at 50.8 million.
During the pandemic, parents pulled about 1.5 million children out of public schools. For the most part, those children do not appear to have returned. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) now estimates that public school enrollment will fall by the end of this decade to just under 47 million.
It is important to note that the official public school enrollment numbers include charter schools, which have grown over the last 20 years from 1 million to nearly 5 million. If you subtract the charter school students, enrollment in traditional public schools peaked in 2012 and has since declined by 5%.
It’s because the schools are filing up with illegals who can’t even speak English, while our citizens kids aren’t learning because the time is taken up for the teachers trying to get through to Pedro.
Amen to that, 7:46! You hit the nail right on the head.