As School Year Looms, Detroit Predicts Enrollment Drop

Detroit, home to the nation’s fastest-shrinking major urban school system, is bracing for another dive in enrollment as students return to classrooms next week for the first time since district officials closed 33 school buildings this summer.

Despite those closures—which sparked public outrage and a lawsuit—and the long trend of student exodus from the city’s public schools, officials are projecting a smaller decline in enrollment this fall than in recent years. School leaders are planning to serve 111,000 students—a drop of 5,000 from last year.

Last fall, more than 14,000 Detroit students left the public schools, either moving out of the city, enrolling in charter schools, or attending school in neighboring districts under a state law that allows parents to enroll children in public schools...