The state has seen four straight years of enrollment declines.
School enrollment in Arizona is dropping dramatically, with this school year seeing the biggest annual drop in students outside of the pandemic in a decade. Enrollment is now back to 2011 levels.
The Arizona Department of Education counted 1,074,000 K-12 students enrolled this year. That is 77,000 fewer students than the pre-pandemic peak, representing a 2.4% annual decrease.
The trend is clear: Arizona schools have lost students for four straight years, and the decline is accelerating.
There are two main reasons for the drop: a shrinking under-18 population despite overall state population growth, and the expansion of Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) enrollments.
While rural counties and several big Valley districts are seeing major drops, a few areas are experiencing massive growth.
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