Enrollment jumps at NYC charters, public schools lose 62,000 students
Enrollment at New York City charter schools continues to rise, while tens of thousands of students are fleeing the city’s traditional public schools, newly released figures reveal.
Charter schools saw an overall enrollment jump of 1.3 percent this school year, and by 9 percent combined over the past two years despite the coronavirus pandemic, the NYC Charter School Center reports.
Overall, 1 in 4 black students across the five boroughs now attend one of the city’s 272 charter schools — including 2 out of every 5 black students in grades K-1.
Meanwhile, enrollment has tumbled at the city’s traditional public schools.
State Education Department preliminary data show enrollment dropped 5 percent at the city’s public schools this school year and a combined 9 percent over the last two years.
Even the city Department of Education’s own figures say school district enrollment has sunk by 6.6 percent over the past two years — 1.9 percent for the current school year and 4.7 percent last school year.
The number of students enrolled fell from 1 million students in the 2019-20 school year to 938,000 in the current year — a loss of 62,000 students.
All schools had to grapple with closures, low attendance and remote learning during the worst COVID-19 outbreaks.
Some of the increase in charter school enrollment can be attributed to planned expansions of grades for existing schools.
But enrollment would have surged even more, if a cap imposed by the state legislature didn’t block the opening of more schools, charter advocates said.
“Despite a cap on the creation of charter schools in New York City and the historic challenges of the past two years, the City’s public charters continued to grow during the pandemic — by 9 percent,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter Center.
“Our growth is a direct result of the incredible work of our teachers, staff and school leaders across 272 schools to provide a high-quality education to the students who make up our diverse and vibrant public charter school community, and to give families a choice to find the school that’s best for their child.”
One education researcher said limiting charter school growth as an option is likely forcing families to leave the city for better educational opportunities elsewhere.
“The enrollment at the city public schools is down so much,” said Ray Domanico, director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute and a former researcher in the city public school system. “I wonder if the city is losing families.”
Domanico said Mayor Eric Adams could keep more families in the city by expanding charter schools in public school facilities, among other innovations.
“You would have seen a bigger growth in charter school enrollment if you didn’t have the cap,” he said.
