To absolutely no one’s surprise, DCPS enrollment hasdropped 8.7 percent, according to a preliminary count by an independent auditor. While late registration will likely raise the final tally slightly, DCPS spokesperson Dena Iverson said that as of last week, 45,135 students were enrolled in the District’s 120 schools, down from last year’s 49,422, continuing a trend in declining enrollment that has persisted since the 1960s.

So where did the kids go? Experts say that the popularity of charter schools, combined with the effects of declining birth rates and high housing prices that drive families to the suburbs have all fueled the loss. Charter school officials are projecting a 20 percent gain in enrollment this year (although this is partially due to the recent conversion of seven Catholic schools to charters), to approximately 26,500 students, or roughly 37 percent of District students.

Charter school advocates love numbers like these, which seem to indicate that parents are responding to the failure of DCPS by taking their students elsewhere. For example, a recent WJLA report about a Northeast D.C. elementary school struggling with overcrowded classes and unqualified teachers cited parents who are threatening to withdraw their children and place them in charters. While students in the District’s public charter schools haven’t really performed any better academically overall than students within DCPS (for every high performing charter like KIPP or DC Prep, there are others that are embarrassingly bad) they do offer parents a choice and a greater feeling of control over their children’s education.

Photo by sara overby