More Arizona schools likely to see closures, changes due to decline in K-12 population, expert says

Earlier this week, Mesa Public Schools announced it would be eliminating some jobs next school year due to a decline in enrollment.

It’s a trend that one expert says will likely cause more schools to make changes.

Over the past several months, many Arizona school districts have considered or approved school closures due to declines in enrollment. The Roosevelt Elementary School District announced the closure of five schools in December and the Cave Creek Unified School District is now considering closing two of its own.

Education

Mesa Public Schools braces for layoffs amid enrollment declines, rising costs

Bridget Dowd

Arizona’s largest school district has announced that it will eliminate some positions next school year, due to declining enrollment.

Glenn Farley is with Arizona’s Common Sense Institute. In a presentation this week, he explained that while the total population of the state is growing, the school aged population is declining.

“You have declining birth rates but you have increasing life expectancy [and] you have domestic and international migration. Those are sort of masking or hiding or concealing the declining birth rates and the overall population numbers," Farley said.

He says classroom sizes are expected to keep shrinking and more schools are likely to see closures in the future.

“Every kindergarten class for the past decade has been smaller than the one before, not just the first, second, third grade but 1-12. Every class is likely to be smaller next year than it was this year," Farley said.