More Parents Choose To Leave Tennessee Government Schools, Reducing Enrollment
Image: A Metro Nashville Public Schools bus. Image Credit: John Partipilo
By Anita Wadhwani [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Tennessee public schools have lost more than 14,000 students since the start of the pandemic — with most switching to private schools and a lesser number newly homeschooled, a new report from the Urban Institute has found.
The report, which relies on state-level data collected by the Institute in collaboration with the Associated Press and Stanford University, traces enrollment shifts between the 2019-2020 and the 2021-2022 school years, when an estimated 1.2 million students left public schools nationwide.
In Tennessee, there were 981,321 public school students enrolled in 2019; by the Fall of 2021, that number had decreased to 967,278, according to the report.
Tennessee had among the largest new enrollments in private schools, with 18,862 new private school enrollees — or about a 24% increase in private enrollment overall. By the Fall of 2021, there were 98,452 students enrolled in Tennessee private schools.
Homeschooling increased by more than 2,240 students to 13,600 — a 20% increase enrollment.
Another another 2,678 students shifts in education remain unexplained.
The data does not break down which age groups in each state were more likely to leave public schools, but overall “these public school enrollment losses were particularly prominent among students in early elementary grades and kindergarten.”
The full report, “Where the Kids Went: Nonpublic Schooling and Demographic Change during the Pandemic Exodus from Public Schools” can be viewed here.
14,000 students, approximately 560 empty classrooms. Multiple entire schools are empty. How many school closures and/or teacher layoffs have there been? Only more and more and more money from Lockdown Lee.
By the way, the homeschool category could be skewed depending on how the data was interpreted. The vast majority of Tennesseans that are homeschooling are not legally independent homeschoolers, but Category IV church-related private school students. Less hassle dealing with the LEA you didn’t want your child attending that way.
Yes you are right. We homeschooled under an umbrella school. So technically, we were considered enrolled with the church related school.
Parents are getting sick of Public education WOKE Indoctrination from corrupt teachers Unions and the Gov.
Time to open charter schools of the classical type . Parents need a choice !