Alabama Public Schools Expected To See Significant Enrollment Drop – The 74

{“@context”:”http://schema.org”,”@type”:”NewsArticle”,”dateCreated”:”2025-10-16T18:59:40+04:00″,”datePublished”:”2025-10-16T18:59:40+04:00″,”dateModified”:”2025-10-16T19:35:27+04:00″,”headline”:”Alabama Public Schools Expected to See Significant Enrollment Drop u2013 The 74″,”name”:”Alabama Public Schools Expected to See Significant Enrollment Drop u2013 The 74″,”keywords”:”‘significant’,Alabama,enrollment,expectedu2019,public,Schools”,”url”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/alabama-public-schools-expected-to-see-significant-enrollment-drop-the-74/”,”description”:”Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Alabama’s public school enrollment could see its largest decline in 40 years, Alabama State Schools Superint”,”copyrightYear”:”2025″,”articleSection”:”Education”,”articleBody”:”n n Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newslettern n n n Alabama’s public school enrollment could see its largest decline in 40 years, Alabama State Schools Superintendent Eric Mackey told members of the Alabama State Board of Education on Thursday.nEnrollment in the state’s K-12 schools in the 2024-25 school year was 729,242a slight increase over 2023-24. The department did not release numbers Thursday for the 2025-26 school year, but Mackey said Thursday only about 12 schools have seen growth in enrollment while other districts have seen numbers decline.nAbout 5,000 students have been unenrolled from public schools in the state with roughly 3,000 students total taking CHOOSE Act funds to go to a private school.nnThe CHOOSE Act is a voucher-like program that offers families up to $7,000 per qualifying child for education related expenses including private school tuition. The program currently operates under income caps scheduled to be lifted next year.n“We know a portion of (the students) took CHOOSE Act dollars and we’re working with the governor’s office and the Department of Revenue to figure out exactly what that number looks like,” he told board members.nThe department is expected to release final numbers next Friday.nThe loss of students is a nationwide problem. In May, the National Center for Education Statistics projected that there would be a decline in public school enrollment, due to growth in private and charter school enrollment and the general aging of the population. Nationwide, public school enrollment is expected to fall by 7.6% by 2031. Alabama’snMackey said Thursday he was mostly concerned with the 2,100 students who were enrolled last year that never showed up for school.n“They didn’t transfer to private school, they didn’t go to home school, they didn’t go to school in another state. They just disappeared,” he told the School Board of Education.nMackey said local superintendents have reported to him that a majority of the unaccounted students are Hispanic.n“We don’t know if they’re still living in this state, just not going to school. If they have moved to another state, they did not enroll in school in that state,” he told the board. “If they left the country, we don’t know if they are documenting students or undocumented, because, as you know, that’s something we are not allowed to ask, and we don’t ask under federal law.”nAccording to the ALSDEabout 12% of students enrolled in Alabama public schools are Hispanic.nMackey said getting these students back in school is important for their progress.n“If those students all come back to us in January and they missed a semester of instruction, we’re going to teach them, but we’re going to pick them up where they are,” he said. “I would implore, publicly, (for) parents to get them back in school. The sooner they get back in school quicker, we can catch them up and move them forward.”nAlabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: (email protected).nn n n n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newslettern n n !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?n n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;n t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,n document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);n fbq(‘init’, ‘626037510879173’); // 626037510879173n fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);n rnDisclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification. rnWe do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.rnrnAuthor: Andrea TinkerrnPublished on: 2025-10-16 18:30:00rnSource: www.the74million.orgrnn”,”publisher”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”,”@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”uaetodaynews”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/images-e1759081190269.png”},”sameAs”:[“https://www.facebook.com/uaetodaynewscom”,”https://www.pinterest.com/uaetodaynews/”,”https://www.instagram.com/uaetoday_news_com/”]},”sourceOrganization”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”},”copyrightHolder”:{“@id”:”#Publisher”},”mainEntityOfPage”:{“@type”:”WebPage”,”@id”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/alabama-public-schools-expected-to-see-significant-enrollment-drop-the-74/”,”breadcrumb”:{“@id”:”#Breadcrumb”}},”author”:{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”uaetodaynews”,”url”:”https://uaetodaynews.com/author/arabsongmedia-net/”},”image”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://i0.wp.com/uaetodaynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Eric-Mackey-Alabama-school-enrollment-825×495.jpg?fit=825%2C495&ssl=1″,”width”:1200,”height”:495}}

Disclaimer: This news article has been republished exactly as it appeared on its original source, without any modification. We do not take any responsibility for its content, which remains solely the responsibility of the original publisher.

Author: uaetodaynews
Published on: 2025-10-16 14:59:00
Source: uaetodaynews.com

aroundworldnews

aroundworldnews.com