Public school enrollment in New York is going down

Public school enrollment in New York is going down, according to research out of Cornell University.

Over the last 10 years, across the state it’s fallen by more than a quarter of a million students.

There’s a variety of reasons for this, from the COVID-19 pandemic impacting how learning is done to people having fewer kids later in life.

It led to 88% of school districts statewide seeing a drop in enrollment over the last decade, but it’s not just because there are fewer kids out there.

Some families are turning to less traditional schooling.

“We at the School of Two Hearts, where my son comes for homeschool co-op,” said QueeNia AsheeMa-At, a homeschooling parent.

It’s an a la carte school option, which is one day a week and the rest of schooling done at home.

Taking control of her kids’ education was a decision QueeNia AsheeMa-At made 16 years ago with her eldest daughter.

She never turned back.

“I’m the principal, the private tutor, the psychiatrist. I sometimes try to figure him out,” she laughed.

She’s part of a growing number of New Yorkers turning away from public school and toward charter or homeschooling options.

“I’m really surprised, because when I hear when I tell people that we homeschool, we sometimes, we get the weirdest feedback, we get so much pushback,” she said. “But then the other hand, I’m not surprised.”

She said issues surrounding religious exemptions, school curriculums and the pandemic showing what works for a specific child has numbers growing.

“Most parents that decided to continue to homeschool is because they saw a difference in their children’s attitudes, behaviors and actually doing the work,” said AsheeMa-At.

That’s reflected in trends briefed by the Cornell Program on Applied Demographics.

They noted that while public school enrollment has gone down over the last decade in New York, from 3.1 million to 2.8 million students, both charter and homeschool numbers doubled.

They now make up 6.5% and 1.8% of total state enrollment, respectively.

“I think of it as a cultural and social shift, and not necessarily that there’s anything declining about public schools,” said research support specialist at Cornell University’s Program on Applied Demographics Leslie Reynolds. “It’s just that the offerings have changed.”

Reynolds says it’s not something to be concerned about per se, but something to consider going forward.

With parents having more choices, school districts have to consider what they need most.

“If you’re juggling instructional costs and if the buildings are getting old, you might want to rebalance or reorganize your institutions or also look at the programs that you’re offering,” said Reynolds.

While homeschooling hasn’t been easy for AsheeMa-At, it’s about finding what’s best.

“There’s days that I’m like, ’I’m sending you to school,’ ” she laughed. “If you dig deep, you know what they want.”

“I’m a single mom. I don’t get any support … it’s me or no one,” she added. “For me to be able to say that I’ve have homeschooled for 17 years, almost 17 years, that’s saying that if I could do it, anyone could do it.”