Fewer Students in Connecticut Schools Again This Year; 6th Consecutive Annual Drop

The current school year, which began last fall amidst the coronavirus pandemic, appears to have had a dramatic impact on the number of children in Connecticut schools, according to preliminary data released by the Connecticut Department of Education, continuing a trend of fewer students that has continued annually for the past six years. 

In a report based on data as of November 2020, the Department found that the greatest declines were in the earliest grades, which “may suggest that parents are choosing to delay the start of public schooling for their youngest children due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Additional factors contributing to the decline include an increase in the number of parents opting to home school their children and fewer new students enrolling in Grades 1 through 12.”

Kindergarten enrollment fell by 4,343 students from 36,566 in October 2019 to 32,223 in October 2020 – a nearly 12 percent decline in a single year, the analysis found.  In addition, the findings noted a decline in kindergarten that was disproportionately greater among Connecticut’s 33 Alliance Districts (Connecticut’s 33 lowest-performing districts).

Connecticut’s PK-12 public school enrollment in 2019-20 was 527,829, the data indicated - approximately 3.4% lower than the enrollment in 2014-15 of 546,347. Over this five-year period, Connecticut’s enrollment declined by 18,518 students, the Department reported.  By contrast, the weekly aggregate student counts were indicating that compared to 2019-20, total enrollment in 2020-21 may have declined by about 14,000 – 15,000 students in a single year.

The reductions in student numbers in recent years are evident across the state, although the Department points out, in the 2019-20 Condition of Education report, that some Alliance Districts including Danbury, Meriden, Norwalk, Stamford, and Windsor had experienced increases in recent years. 

In Milford, for example, enrollment has dropped by 719 students during the past five years, from 6,152 students in 2015-16 to 5,433 in 2020-21. That is an 11.7% drop. 

In Wethersfield the drop has not been as severe, going from 3,651 students in 2015-16 to 3,574 in the current school year.  The drop of 80 students represents a drop of 2.2 percent.

Trumbull, which saw its K-12 student population drop by 69 students from 2019-20 to 2020-21, still has a larger student population than the district had in 2015-16, when there were 6,687, an increase of just under one percent. 

West Hartford has seen a 5.6% decrease in its K-12 student population, falling by 552 students from 9,757 in 2015-16 to 9,205 in the current academic year.

After two consecutive years of increasing K-12 student numbers, Naugatuck saw a decline this year of 117 students, yet remains ahead of where the district was in 2015-16, when there were 4,246 students.  During the current academic year, there are 4,255 students, up 9 students from five years ago.

More recent data, through April 2021, compare school attendance statewide in remote vs. in-person school days, with attendance stronger on in-person days across the board.  Overall, among all students, 95% of students attended when the school day was in-person, compared with 91.2% attendance on remote learning days.