Maine public school enrollments drop amid pandemic
More families are choosing to home-school or send their children to private schools, and the drop in public school enrollment can have financial implications for districts.
Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Enrollment in Maine’s public schools dropped by more than 4 percent this year, a significant decrease that comes as the coronavirus pandemic is driving more families to enroll in private school or home-school their children.
Numbers for homeschool enrollment have not yet been finalized, but to date the state has already seen an increase of more than 40 percent in home-school students. In 2019-20, about 6,880 Maine students were home-schooled, but that number is now at more than 10,100. Additionally, the state has had more than 860 students withdraw from public school to attend private schools this year, compared with about 290 last year.