Most public school districts nationwide are slashing staff and budgets this summer as rising costs and falling enrollments squeeze their finances.
The school-tracking website Burbio recently highlighted 10 large districts that are making billions of dollars in cuts because dwindling headcount has reduced public funds. The districts include Denver Public Schools, Portland Public Schools, Baltimore City Public Schools, Dallas Independent School District and Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia.
“It will be a more difficult year than last year,” Burbio President Dennis Roche said in an email. “The major factors driving it include enrollment declines, rising costs of special education and student services programs, and benefit costs for employees.”
Burbio previously reported that most districts trimmed their staffing, program and supply budgets last summer after the returning Trump administration ended access to pandemic stimulus grants.
Education insiders told The Washington Times that President Trump’s mass deportations and expansion of school choice incentives have only added to the pressure on public school budgets since then.
“Birth rates are down, immigration rates have decreased, and more parents are opting to homeschool their children,” said Tyrone Howard, a UCLA education professor specializing in racial equity. “There are fewer Latino immigrants to America, a huge part of the population coming to the U.S. over the past several decades.”
Public school enrollment nationwide dropped by an estimated 1.5 million students after pandemic restrictions shuttered campuses starting in 2020. Most switched to private or homeschooling options and never returned.