Texas public school enrollment falls by more than 76,000 students, report shows
Texas’ public school enrollment declined by more than 76,000 students at the beginning of the current school year, according to a new report by the
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The decline is the largest single-year drop in public school enrollment the state has seen in modern history outside of the COVID-19 pandemic. The enrollment decline comes despite rapid population growth in the state.
Enrollment declines have forced districts to make difficult decisions. Several North Texas districts, including Grapevine-Colleyville, Grand Prairie and Fort Worth ISDs, have closed campuses over the past few years in response to declining enrollment. Some, such as Coppell ISD, are looking at ways to market themselves in the face of more intense competition from charter schools and other options.
The report points to three main factors driving the drop: declining birth rates, shifting migration patterns and increased competition from private schools and home schooling.
The report’s authors project the decline to continue in the coming years. They note that the Texas Demographic Center predicts the share of people younger than 18 will decline to 18% in 2060 from 25% in 2020.
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For years, traditional public schools have had to contend with increased competition from charter schools, which are publicly funded but operate independently of local school districts. But the report notes, although charter school enrollment is continuing to expand, growth has moderated over the past few years. At the beginning of the current school year, Texas’ charter school enrollment grew by 2.4%, the smallest gain in enrollment the charter sector has seen in at least nine years. At the same time, the state’s independent school districts lost about 1.7% of their enrollment.
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Public schools face another source of competition in the coming years as the state’s new Texas Education Freedom Account program comes online. The Texas Comptroller’s Office awarded education savings account money to nearly 100,000 students. Award recipients may use that money to pay for educational expenses such as private school tuition and homeschooling costs. Although most of this year’s recipients were already enrolled in private schools, public education advocates worry the program could further drive down public school enrollment if it expands, as similar programs in other states have done.
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