A report released by the New York City Comptroller's office on Thursday, the 29th, shows that enrollment in city public schools fell by about 22,000 students in the past year alone. That brings the decline since the 2013-14 school year to 19%. The comptroller has cited falling birth rates and the high cost of living as causes, and has said that merging or closing small schools is unavoidable.
According to the New York Post, the number of students in New York City public schools fell by nearly 22,000 in the past year alone. The figure comes from a report released Thursday by City Comptroller Mark Levine, and it is the largest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with the 2013-14 school year, K-12 enrollment is down by about 187,000 students, or 19%. Total enrollment has fallen from more than 1 million to below 885,000.
The report projects that another 128,000 students will leave over the next 10 years. Falling birth rates are the main factor, and Comptroller Levine pointed to the high cost of living as another major one. Citywide K-12 enrollment across public, private and charter schools combined has also fallen by 81,506 over the past five years. Charter schools enroll 156,000 students (286 schools), and their annual growth rate has not exceeded 4% in recent years. Since the 2020-21 school year, private school enrollment has dropped by 6,841 students, and the number of homeschooled students reached 13,079 last year, four times the figure of 10 years ago.
Spending per student is $44,000, the highest among large U.S. school districts, the New York Post reported. However, on recent state exams, about half of students in grades 3-8 were proficient in English language arts (ELA), and 57% were proficient in math. Meanwhile, 135,000 city public school students (14%) are experiencing housing instability or living in temporary shelters. Students whose native language is not English make up 15% of total enrollment.
There are 219 schools with fewer than 200 students. Comptroller Levine has said that many of these schools cannot field sports teams or offer Advanced Placement (AP) classes. This report contains no recommendations. Last September, he said the current situation is "not sustainable" and indicated that merging or closing schools with sharply declining enrollment is unavoidable.
A spokesperson for Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels and the Department of Education (DOE) said New York City is no exception to the nationwide decline in birth rates and is responding through in-depth discussions with local communities. The spokesperson also said the Mamdani administration is launching a universal free child care program for 2-year-olds (2-K) to ease cost-of-living burdens so that families stay in the city.