LOS ANGELES—Enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is expected to drop 30 percent in the next decade, forcing district officials to make a series of tough decisions on campus closures and employment.
Student enrollment in LAUSD has been falling at a rate of about 2.8 percent per year since it hit its enrollment peak with 737,000 students in 2002.
However, a May 17 Board of Education report (pdf) predicted that after 2022, the district’s enrollment will begin to decrease by 3.6 percent annually—from about 437,000 in 2022 to 309,000 by 2031.
Because state funding is based on average attendance and enrollment, the district will likely see a drop in funding in the coming years….