Declining enrollment a crisis for schools

In many school districts around the state, declining enrollment has been a fact of life going back years. Suburbs and especially rural communities with flat or declining populations has regularly seen fewer students come back to school each fall, resulting in closing schools or mergers between towns. That was part of the thinking behind Gov. Ned Lamont’s school regionalization plan that failed in his first year — school officials were asked to recognize and deal with this reality by looking to their neighbors.

But that long-term trend has little to do with what school officials are seeing so far this year.

Not long ago, it was questionable whether any kind of normalcy would be possible this school year. But, with masks on and laptops in tow, students in most districts have been in class at least a few days a week. Other schools, including in New Haven and Danbury, remain fully online, but some towns, especially in the younger grades, are operating at more or less normal capacity. That by itself is a positive sign.

But at the same time, new figures reported this week show far too many students are apparently falling through the cracks. Weekly enrollment data collected by the state for the week ending Oct. 9 showed about 14,000 fewer students than at the same time last year, a 2.64 percent drop-off statewide. And some of the biggest drops have been in cities like Bridgeport and New Haven, which have typically been growing even as the suburbs stay flat or decline.

About 3 percent of students remain fully disconnected, which means they have not connected even one day during the reporting period.

This is a crisis. Connecticut is already home to some of the nation’s widest gaps between its highest- and lowest-performing students, and those in the most need simply can’t afford a lost year. It’s time that might never be made up.

At least part of the problem is technological, with many students lacking the hardware or connections to join remote classrooms. While great strides have been made in those areas since the pandemic first hit in March, there are clearly gaps that have yet to be filled.

But there’s more to it than a laptop shortage. State officials say they don’t know what specifically is behind the declining enrollment or the high number of disconnected students, and hope to have better information in the coming weeks. With no sign that the pandemic is going to go away, maybe not until the next school year, it is vital that this situation be taken seriously. There is too much at stake for those who are being left out.

So much has been asked of schools during this pandemic, and in most cases everyone involved has risen to the challenge. Switching last spring to all-remote learning was something no one could have seen coming, and it went off with few hitches.

But these numbers indicate a serious problem. Every effort must be made to see that each student is reached and brought back into a learning environment. There is too much at stake to wait.

With no sign that the pandemic is going to go away, maybe not until the next school year, it is vital that this situation be taken seriously.