Did kids return to school after COVID-19 upheaval? What new Arizona enrollment figures say
Arizona students are returning to school after pandemic-related enrollment drops, state education officials said Friday. But the numbers remain below pre-COVID-19 levels.
Arizona Department of Education enrollment numbers for schools across the state for this school year show a small but notable increase in student enrollment compared to last year.
According to a report the department released Friday, enrollment in Arizona schools increased by 1.8%, or the addition of approximately 20,300 students.
School enrollment was down from normal during the 2020-21 school year due to the disruptions caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
"These official enrollment figures show that students are returning to public school classrooms after last year’s drop in enrollment," Kathy Hoffman, superintendent of public instruction, said in a news release. "While we have more work to do to fully return our student counts to pre-pandemic levels, the trend is now moving in the right direction.”
More than 1 million students are enrolled in Arizona schools this year, with approximately one-fifth enrolled in charter schools. Charter school enrollment declined by 0.62%, while public district enrollment increased by 2.57%.
Enrollment numbers matter especially to public schools because they are funded based on the number of students they have each year.
When enrollment numbers dropped last year, they did so most significantly in younger students, such as kindergarten. This year, kindergarten enrollment increased by more than 8.5%.
The biggest district in the state, Mesa Unified, saw a 1.38% increase in enrollment for all grades, for a total of 58,595 total students enrolled this school year.
However, school enrollment still does not match pre-pandemic numbers. In the 2019-20 school year, there were a total of 1,150,806 students enrolled in Arizona schools. This year, there are approximately 1,132,567, leaving the state still 1.6% below pre-pandemic norms.
Last summer, the Department of Education launched a program aimed at keeping students engaged with their public schools, especially those who are at high-risk of being unenrolled. Hoffman acknowledged that more work remains.
"It is imperative for the state to be laser-focused on providing resources to classrooms and recruiting and retaining qualified educators to meet the needs of our students," she said.
Reach the reporter at endia.fontanez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @EndiaRain.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona schools see higher enrollment numbers this academic year
