Enrollment Changes

A new peer-reviewed study published in Education Finance and Policy by Matthew Lee and Benjamin Scafidi examines enrollment, fiscal, and resource changes in American public school districts. Using data on all public school districts from 1998-99 to 2018-19, we estimate how resources change as district enrollments increase and how resources change as enrollments decline. We find generally that districts with declining student enrollment have experienced larger increases in per-pupil funding and resources compared to districts with growing enrollments. On this page, we analyze changes in specific state contexts.