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Chicago Public Schools’ official enrollment this school year is 316,224 — a 2.8% drop compared to last school year, interim CPS CEO Macquline King announced Thursday.
“Enrollment decreased across a majority of grades and most student groups,” King said during a Chicago Board of Education meeting.
The official figure, which is solidified annually on the 20th day of school, represents the first time in the past two school years that enrollment has dipped at CPS, as preliminary data analyzed by Chalkbeat indicated earlier this month.
But the drop picks up a trend that began almost 15 years ago: Student enrollment at CPS has now dropped by nearly 22% since the 2011-12 school year, when more than 404,000 students attended the city’s public schools.
Until 2022, Chicago was the third largest school district in the country, but it is now the fourth.
Chicago is not alone. Enrollment has dropped at public school districts across the nation because of a number of factors, including declining birth rates.
King said there is a continued dip in the number of Black students, Hispanic students, those who are learning English as a new language, and those who are living in temporary housing. At the same time, the district saw increased enrollment in the number of white, Asian American, and multiracial students, and those with disabilities, King said.
As of publication, the district had not yet posted the data file that includes a school-by-school breakdown of enrollment for the 2025-26 school year.
Enrollment increased slightly at CPS over the previous two years as thousands of migrant students and their families arrived in Chicago, fleeing political and economic turmoil in Central and South American countries.
But as the Trump administration rolls out aggressive immigration enforcement, including in recent weeks in Chicago, immigration advocates say some families are scared to send their children to school. Families, they say, may have left the city or even the U.S. altogether.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
