NYC Schools Report Drop In Enrollment Among Wealthy, White Students During Pandemic

NYC Schools Report Drop In Enrollment Among Wealthy, White Students During Pandemic

A report published Tuesday by the NYC Independent Budget Office said fewer new families enrolled in NYC's public schools during the pandemic, reflecting a trend of "young, white and affluent" families pulling their kids from NYC's public schools in favor of pricey private institutions.

According to Bloomberg, a range of conflicting trends kept the overall retention rate for the city's schools - that is the number of students who return from one year to the next - in the nation’s largest district mostly unchanged in 2020-2021 from the previous year, the report released Tuesday shows.

The report showed a number of white students in pre-K through third grade who returned declined by more than 4 percentage points (meanwhile charter school retention was little-changed).

Source: Bloomberg

When approached by BBG, a spokeswoman for the city's education department had this to say:

"The past two years were tumultuous for families nationwide, and they made the best decisions suited to their unique needs and circumstances," said Sarah Casasnovas, a spokesperson for the city’s Education Department. "While the trends we saw in New York are no different, we are confident that families will return to classrooms as we turn the corner on COVID."

Here are a few other facts from the report:

• The report found COVID was responsible for the city's inability to attract new students. New enrollees as a share of total enrollment fell in every grade, with a steep decline in students entering the ninth grade, when high school starts.
• Retention declines were steepest among students moving from pre-K to kindergarten, and among white students, where retention fell in all grades from pre-K through eighth.
• Declining enrollment presents a financial problem for Mayor Adams: school budgets are calculated partly via per-pupil funding formulas, as well as a social challenge as the city faces pressure to better integrate its schools along race and income lines.

For outsiders, the report offers a glimpse into how the pandemic has impacted the demographics of the city and its student body. But in reality, enrollment numbers have been falling for years.

It's just another example of how Mayor de Blasio left the city worse off than he found it.

Tyler Durden Wed, 03/02/2022 - 17:20
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NYC Schools Report Drop In Enrollment Among Wealthy, White Students During Pandemic