Why are students leaving public schools?

This question came up because the school district I work for announced an enrollment decline. They also announced that they may have to cut positions to accommodate the enrollment decline. First, I am stunned because we just had a bond election to receive funding to build three new schools.

My main question is why this is happening to public schools?

Its because there are no consequences for behavior. I worked in public for 22 years and had to leave. Now I'm at a college prep engineering high school with a waiting list. Admin doesn't put up with misbehavior. There was 1 fight in 2 years and both students were expelled within an hour. Everyone is respectful. That is the norm.

I think you not understanding why enrollment is declining is kind of funny. I worked in one of the largest school systems in the country for 21 years. Its no suprise to me why people are fleeing. Its an awful service people are being provided. They are voting with their feet. The educational system in the United States is sad joke. People get nothing out of it. That is why they are leaving. As an institution we have no idea how to provide a quality education. Do we teacher students how to manage their money? Do we teach them how to become business people? We get them ready to waste 4 more years in college. If I had to do it all over again I would have learned a trade and opened my own business. There is no money to be made attending college. However, a skilled trades person has unlimited potential to earn. The educational institutions in the US are going the way of the DoDo bird, extinction?

Same reason why teachers are leaving.

Parents are leaving public schools, not the students. They are not happy with the rigor, the direction, and the lack of discipline in public schools. As a High School teacher of 32 years I can't say I blame them. I tell people all the time I was a teacher for 25 years, now I am a babysitter. School today are not designed to bring the bottom up they pull the top down. Admin. are looking for the quick fix statistics which can be faked to make there schools look like they are improving instead of actually trying to improve kids abilities. So parents who can afford it find Private School that are a better option for their kids and those who don't have the money Home-school.

Homeschooling is more and more popular and accepted

I know we lost a great deal of Hispanic students due to shifting immigration policies. The quality of education can be hit or miss. High teacher turnover. Lack of support for education from admins and parents. Digital distractions for students. My personal opinion is that our public schools have been hijacked by group of people that not all Americans line up with and it’s causing a good deal of parents to pull their kids. I was talking with a good childhood friend last week about schools and we both felt influenced by our early public school years in a way that is entirely contrary to how we ended up. He’s crushing it in HVAC and his boy left teaching right away after graduating. There is a cultural revolution occurring in the USA and it’s not always good for all Americans and seems to serve less than half the population from what I can tell.

I spent more than. 2 decades in public. school. bloated administration, more focus on fluff than the core mission. which is to prepare young people to be self sufficient adults. in my district, blatant admin nepotism.

parents are shelling out for private schools because public schioks are largely failing. I make half what I made as a private school teacher and am happy.

There are fewer students, Lots of families have left Illinois, plenty of statistics showing the mass exodus. The ones that are here are tired of teachers being more concerned about politics than basic literacy and math skills.

It’s multiple factors. Going to different education settings is one—less kids being born is another. At least in my area…

AI and private education.

It seems school systems are primarily focused on their stats. What percent of their students are graduating? They are not worried about students' learning. The students know this, so they may not take it seriously.

Literally the population is in decline. Our school district estimates that the Freshman class this year (class of 2029) will be the last class of significant size and the anticipated class sizes after that will get progressively smaller. Pair that with the school voucher system, allowing state & federal dollars to be funneled into the private school industry, the popularity of home-schooling in the trad wife community, and fewer immigrants, and you're going to see the decline.

I worked 46 yrs in education/coaching. I worked high school,JH ,Universities. Mo,KS,TX,TN. The private schools I worked in were Day & Night better. I would tell a story. In private school where bell rings, you can hear some one on the 3rd floor FART your in the basement in 5mins. Public school it takes 15 mins to get all kids in class and have role done. Wasn't always that way it seems the last 15 yr it worst.