Enrollment in New York City’s public school system has dropped by about 50,000 students since the fall of 2019, the Department of Education said on Friday, the latest example of the profound disruption the pandemic has had on public education across the country. The 4.5 percent drop was likely driven by a number of factors, including parents choosing to home-school their children either temporarily or long-term, families leaving the city during the pandemic and some parents delaying the start of school for their young children altogether. New York City lost by far the largest number of students in recent history between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020, when about 38,000 students left the system. But between fall of 2020 and now, enrollment fell by about 13,000 students, or roughly 1 percent, a rate that mirrors prepandemic drops in 2018 and 2019.

Source: New York Times October 29, 2021 22:17 UTC