School Enrollment
With enrollment dropping and tiny schools multiplying eightfold over the past 25 years, the Mamdani administration faces tough choices on how to tackle closures and mergers.
Some principals of schools in shared buildings are pooling resources to offer advanced classes. Now, pressure is mounting on Chancellor Kamar Samuels to help them do it systemwide.
The proposal to close the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce comes as New York City confronts a growing number of severely underenrolled schools.
The city’s birth rate has been declining, but competition from cyber charter schools and private schools could be significant factors.
The city’s inaction on closing Murry Bergtraum High School — which once enrolled 3,000 students — is shortchanging the 90 students still there. It comes at a cost of $46,000 per pupil, a Chalkbeat investigation reveals.
The school’s enrollment has rebounded under Principal KaTiedra Argro’s leadership. But at the start of the year, the district didn’t let her hire enough staff to keep up.
The drop continues a decade-long enrollment decline in Memphis, according to Chalkbeat analysis.
MSCS leaders toured schools rejoining the district and those absorbing students displaced by recent closures on the first day of classes. Here’s what they shared.
Renaissance charter schools are supposed to serve students in the surrounding neighborhood. But as student enrollment shrinks citywide, many fill their seats with students from elsewhere.
The district is relaunching its summer door-knocking campaign and changing in-school strategies to boost attendance after high absenteeism became an impetus for the MSCS state takeover.
Recent school takeovers in Texas, often heralded by Tennessee Republicans, resulted in multiple school shutdowns. And a former MSCS superintendent appointed to MSCS’ oversight board made closures a lynchpin of his tenure.
Schools will see steady budgets for the start of the 2026-27 school year, extending a pandemic-era policy that props up schools with falling enrollment.
P.S. Weekly pulls the curtain back on school mergers: How are students affected when they lose their school identity? We hear from a Brooklyn student whose school merged with its downstairs neighbor.
The plan is part of an ongoing effort to get more students to attend Detroit schools as it competes with charters and suburban districts. In total, the district aims to spend $1.4 million to market to prospective students and families.
Pueblo 60 has lost thousands of students in recent years. It plans to repurpose several school buildings for new uses, including preschool.
The state projects the district’s enrollment will decline by roughly 10% over the next decade.
The MSCS school board voted last week to shutter five schools by the end of this year. That leaves over 1,200 students to find a new place to go next fall, with the district extending its priority transfer deadline to accommodate last-minute changes.
A report from the advocacy group Kids First Chicago found that the district’s “market share” has slipped from 75% to 71% since 2018.
MSCS officials say closing Georgian Hills Elementary would consolidate neighborhood enrollment into fewer buildings, reducing district cost.
MSCS leaders want to create the third combined middle-high school in the district if Chickasaw Middle closes in June. Parents worry that will spark behavioral issues.