A sea change in student enrollment

New projections on student enrollment from the federal government hint at the financial pressures many states will face as student populations rise considerably in the next decade, writes Mikhail Zinshsteyn in The Atlantic Magazine. The data, released last week by the National Center on Education Statistics, forecast that the number of public school students from prekindergarten through high school will grow nationally by 7 percent between 2011 and 2022, especially in Western and Southern states. School populations in Nevada and Arizona are expected to swell by more than 20 percent. Utah should grow by 19 percent, and Texas by more than 15 percent. Florida anticipates 14 percent growth. These states are in the bottom 10 for state expenditures per pupil, according to data, and will have to ramp up spending just to stay flat. Younger students account for the bulk of expansion figures: K-8 students are expected to increase by 8 percent, high school students just 1 percent. Whether projections will spur policymakers to tweak funding formulas is an open question. Elsewhere in the data, researchers indicate private schools will continue to see enrollments dip: After losing over a tenth of their students between 1997 and 2011, these schools will slouch by another 5 percent in the coming decade. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.