Enrollment

First-grade student Brennen Marquardt, 6, looks out the bus window at Friess Lake Middle School on Sept. 4, 2018, the first year of operations for the newly consolidated Holy Hill district in Richfield, Wis. The district was the most recent to consolidate in Wisconsin, which is among the states where lawmakers are exploring ways to force or incentivize district mergers.
First-grade student Brennen Marquardt, 6, looks out the bus window at Friess Lake Middle School on Sept. 4, 2018, the first year of operations for the newly consolidated Holy Hill district in Richfield, Wis. The district was the most recent to consolidate in Wisconsin, which is among the states where lawmakers are exploring ways to force or incentivize district mergers.
John Ehlke/West Bend Daily News via AP
States States Consider District Consolidations as Student Enrollment Drops
Rural educators say the decision to combine school districts is a matter of local control.
Evie Blad, December 5, 2025
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8 min read
Kindergarten and preschool students play on the school’s recently renovated playground during recess on Taft Early Learning Center in Uxbridge, Mass., on March 12, 2025.
Kindergarten and preschool students play on a recently renovated playground at Taft Early Learning Center in Uxbridge, Mass., on March 12, 2025. Research out this year examines the patterns behind enrollment decline in Massachusetts schools, which the researchers say likely apply nationwide.
Brett Phelps for Education Week
School & District Management Where School Enrollment Is Declining the Most: What New Research Shows
A new analysis finds enrollment declines are more pronounced in certain types of districts.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, November 18, 2025
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3 min read
River Yang, 3, looks out the window of a school bus as it prepares to depart the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, on May 6, 2024, in Wasilla, Alaska.
River Yang, 3, looks out the window of a school bus on May 6, 2024, as it prepares to depart the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center in Wasilla, Alaska. Head Start providers nationwide are contending with intermittent funding delays and policy changes that have upended the program for much of its 60th anniversary year.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Early Childhood Head Start Confronts More Funding Disruptions and Policy Whiplash
Program operators have struggled to draw down routine funding, and puzzled over how to comply with confusing policy directives.
Mark Lieberman, August 11, 2025
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11 min read
Soccer practice in Long Lake, N.Y., on Sept. 1, 2022.
Students participate in soccer practice in Long Lake, N.Y., on Sept. 1, 2022. The Long Lake Central School District merged some its sports teams with another district to have enough players to field teams.
Heather Ainsworth for Education Week
School & District Management How Rural Schools Share Services and Try to Stay Relevant in These 2 States
Even small fluctuations in student enrollment can create financial hardships for rural schools.
Ciara Meyer, August 8, 2025
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6 min read
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, right, listens during public comment at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Oklahoma City.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, right, listens during public comment at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2024 in Oklahoma City.
Nick Oxford/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign
States What Happened to Oklahoma's Effort to Count Undocumented Students?
State leaders ended the possibility of a rule change that would have required proof of citizenship in school enrollment.
Ileana Najarro, May 27, 2025
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3 min read
Illustration of Covid-19 impacting 3 years of school
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and Getty Images
School & District Management Infographic 9 Charts That Show the Lasting Effects of COVID on Schools
Key data on some of the move consequential changes, five years later.
Maya Riser-Kositsky, March 18, 2025
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3 min read
Students in a combined second- and third-grade class talk in pairs.
Students in a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class talk in pairs.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed
School & District Management Thinking About Closing a School? What to Consider Besides Enrollment
It's not a given that closing a building will result in substantial savings.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, January 28, 2025
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6 min read
An illustration of a man standing on top of a large division symbol. There are a couple of coins on each of the circular parts of the division symbol and the man is holding a briefcase in one hand and looking through a magnifying glass with the other hand.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding Public Schools by the Numbers: How Enrollment, Funding, and More Changed in 2024
K-12 enrollment is dropping, funding is lagging economic growth, and other takeaways from newly available data.
Mark Lieberman, December 20, 2024
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4 min read
Coleton McLemore is silhouetted against the sky during the Commencement Exercises for the Class of 2020 at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School's Tommy Cash Stadium on July 31, 2020 in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
Coleton McLemore is silhouetted against the sky during the Commencement Exercises for the Class of 2020 at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School's Tommy Cash Stadium on July 31, 2020 in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. The country will see a peak in high school graduates in 2025, followed by a steady decline through 2041, affecting most of the nation.
C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP
College & Workforce Readiness Most States Will See a Steady Decline in High School Graduates. Here Are the Data
The decline is based largely on population trends.
Brooke Schultz, December 11, 2024
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7 min read
The Supreme Court is pictured, Oct. 7, 2024, in Washington.
The Supreme Court is pictured, Oct. 7, 2024, in Washington. The court on Monday declined to take up a case about the Boston district’s facially race-neutral admissions policy for selective magnet high schools.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Law & Courts High Court Won't Review School Admissions Policy That Sought to Boost Diversity
The U.S. Supreme Court refused a case about whether race was unconstitutionally considered in admissions to Boston's selective schools.
Mark Walsh, December 9, 2024
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5 min read
An illustration of a small person of color dragging a very large bookbag on their back.
DigitalVision Vectors
Special Education How Students With Disabilities Fare in Both Charter and Regular Public Schools
Students with disabilities experienced inequities in both types of schools, a new analysis shows.
Brooke Schultz, October 8, 2024
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6 min read
The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, April 19, 2023, in Washington.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon, April 19, 2023, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Law & Courts What's Ahead for Education This Supreme Court Term? Trans Rights, E-Rate, and More
The justices have one major case on transgender medical care on their docket and others pending on gender-identity issues in schools.
Mark Walsh, October 4, 2024
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10 min read
Image of a gavel
iStock/Getty
Law & Courts Court Revives Asian-American Groups' Challenge to New York City Selective Admissions
New York's program has sought to increase representation of Black and Latino students in its selective high schools.
Mark Walsh, September 24, 2024
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5 min read
Illustration of a person holding a bag of money with a hole in it, where coins are falling out, with a chart behind showing loss.
iStock/Getty
School Choice & Charters How Private School Choice Complicates Public School Budgets
Districts are seeing higher costs and fuzzier enrollment projections as more states give parents public funds for private education.
Mark Lieberman, September 16, 2024
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12 min read
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