PHOENIX — A new report from Bespoke Economics, in conjunction with the Arizona School Administrators, shows just how many Arizona public school students left district and charter schools in the last five years.
Every student in Arizona public schools comes with a price tag. If they lose one, districts will lose thousands of dollars. As enrollment continues to decline in some Arizona schools, they’re feeling the impacts and have been closing schools. Over the last few years, 11 districts closed more than two dozen campuses. More districts are considering closures this year.
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The report showed that over the last five years, district enrollment fell 6.6% while charter schools fell 2.2%.
“If you look at the distribution in terms of how that decline has happened, it's disproportionately impacted district schools,” said Matthew Hom, the co-founder of Bespoke Economics.
Arizona public school districts still hold a majority of the share of students. However, the controversial Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program has seen enrollment skyrocket since going universal, allowing any Arizona student to use public funds to attend private school, home school, or any other choices.
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The report says ESA participation grew 55% in Fiscal Year 2024 to Fiscal Year 2026, Quarter 3. "By ADE’s counts, about 42% of those current participants attended an Arizona district or charter school immediately before entering ESA,” the report said.
In 2022, roughly 70% of kids attended their nearest district school, however, that dropped to 67.7%.
Those families are going elsewhere, according to Hom.
“If it's just declining demographics, that's largely outside of any district's control. If, on the other hand, it's a declining market share, declining service rate issue, well, that's something where the districts can have conversations internally about, you know, what can we do to increase our market share or at least stop the decline, right?” Hom said.
Fewer students in schools means less money, and districts are trying to find ways to bring students back. The Balsz Elementary School District has been using a recruiting company to attract more students.
“I think our partnership has allowed us to really work closely together to understand who we are as a community, for them to go out there and get those 50-plus kids [to enroll]. I'm still pushing them for a whole lot more, but they’re competitive as well, so I'm excited for the outcome,” Balsz Elementary School District Superintendent George Barnes told ABC15 in September.
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