NYC Schools Lost 43K Students In Coronavirus Enrollment Drop

NEW YORK CITY — The city’s public schools shed 43,000 students during the 2020-2021 year amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to newly-released preliminary enrollment data.

Enrollment for the school year ultimately tallied at 960,000 — a 4 percent decline from the previous year, education officials said.

The drop is partially tied to a years-long drop in birth rates across the city, officials said. But the pandemic — which wreaked havoc on the city’s institutions, from schools, to restaurants to mass transit — is likely a significant factor, they said.

"Given the current circumstances of pandemic it is no surprise that we are seeing greater fluctuations in enrollment this year,” Katie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, said in a statement. “However, no school district has stabilized its school system the way we have, which means that we can and will continue to offer the gold standard in health, safety, and learning in a completely transformed educational environment to our students."

The enrollment data is still preliminary and will be finalized in the spring. It covers the period as New York City became the largest school system in the country to return to in-person classes, along with continued struggles from the pandemic.

Falling numbers for non-mandatory early childhood grades accounted for a whole point in the drop, officials said. Enrollment for 3-K and pre-K students dipped 8 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Here are the preliminary numbers, as compared to the 2019-2020 school year, provided by the Department of Education:

· Kindergarten enrollment declined by 9 percent
· 1st grade enrollment declined by 6 percent
· 2nd grade enrollment declined by 8 percent
· 3rd grade enrollment declined by 4 percent, same as last year
· 4th grade enrollment declined by 6 percent
· 5th grade enrollment declined by 5 percent
· 6th grade enrollment declined by 3 percent, same as last year
· 7th grade enrollment declined by 5 percent
· 8th grade enrollment did not change
· 9th grade enrollment declined by 4 percent
· 10th grade enrollment increased by 2 percent
· 11th grade enrollment increased by 2 percent
· 12th grade enrollment declined by 1 percent, same as last year