Latino, white students leading withdrawals from California’s public schools, report finds

California public schools are reeling from a “shock wave” of lost enrollment this academic year, with Latino and white students leading the way, EdSource reported.

“This school year, enrollment plummeted 1.3% – a loss of nearly 75,000 students – the sharpest decline since the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Yuxuan Xie and Daniel J. Willis wrote.

“While Latino students account for 64% of the total loss, the rapid decline of white students from rosters is also notable.”

Approximately 48,100 Latino students left the state’s public education system – a significant loss as they account for 62% of total enrollment, according to the article.

Meanwhile, the number of white students dropped by approximately 31,000, or 2.7% from the previous year’s count.

“Since 1984-85, the share of white students in total enrollment has fallen from 55% to 22%,” EdSource observed.

‘Places like San Francisco are hemorrhaging kids’

EdSource speculated on reasons behind the drop in enrollment, including demographic changes playing out nationwide.

“A combination of factors may be at play beyond declining birth rates — the effects of immigration enforcement and families moving out of urban areas because of the cost of living, some observers say.”

However, analysts have been warning of “the implosion of California public-school education” for several years.

“Places like San Francisco are hemorrhaging kids,” said Lance Christensen, vice president of government affairs and education at the California Policy Center. “Certain cities can’t keep schools open or literally are closing a school a year, if not more.”

Christensen blamed the schools for contributing to parents’ decisions to withdraw their children.

“California schools are not doing the thing they were supposed to do, which is teach kids. They now have become basically warehouses for young kids – and childcare centers for most families – incidentally teaching academics from time to time.”

Fewer than half of Californian students ranked proficient in English language arts in the 2023-24 academic year, and only 35.5% achieved math proficiency, according to government data.

“These are not the schools of the 1980s and 90s,” Christensen said. “They’re fundamentally different, and they don’t educate like they did in years past.”

Parents became more aware of this educational shift because of the pandemic lockdowns, according to Christensen.

“When parents think about this, they want their children to be successful in real life. They might appreciate they have free babysitting with these schools. But these kids are sent away for 6-8, maybe more, hours a day. They’re basically being warehoused.”