While public school enrollment remained flat in America from 2012-2024, it plummeted by nearly 13% in West Virginia. More than 36,000 students left the public school system during that time.
This is yet another watershed moment for the educator workforce. The challenges confronting districts are profound: declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs, persistent shortages in critical content areas, underrepresentation of teachers of color, and spreading educator burnout. These issues, long in the making, were laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and currently exacerbated by decreases […]
The nationwide push to expand school choice opportunities forces administrators to confront increasing competition from private schools and homeschoolers.
In recent years, Wisconsin high schools have seen a steady increase in enrollment in hands-on technical education courses, according to Perkins V data. That comes after years of declining enrollment nationwide in the 1990s and 2000s.
At a time when federal funding is determined by compliance with federal policy like Title IX, questions like "How can we forecast at a time like this?" and "What else is coming down the pike?" are top-of-mind for superintendents.
The funding crisis stems largely from the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which pumped billions of federal dollars into school districts during the Covid pandemic. As of September 2024, those funds have dried up.
This budget season is critical due to the end of ESSER funds, declining enrollments, uncertain federal K12 funding, rising costs and looming local and state tax base declines.
