By KAREN D SOUZA, JOHN FENSTERWALD AND DANIEL J. WILLIS | Los Angeles Times | Published: April 23, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more staff and wire stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. LOS ANGELES (Tribune News Service) The pandemic has intensified a multiyear trend of dwindling public school student enrollment statewide, causing a steep drop this year with more than a third of the decline stemming from 61,000 no-show kindergarteners. Statewide, net enrollment in K-12 publicly funded schools in California fell by almost 3%, or 160,000 students in 2020-21, the largest drop in 20 years, according to annual data released Thursday by the California Department of Education. The drop takes into account an increase of 22,542 students attending charter schools, which enroll about one in nine students in California.
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The pandemic has intensified a multiyear trend of dwindling public school student enrollment statewide, causing a steep drop this year with more than a third of the decline stemming from 61,000 no-show kindergarteners.
Statewide, net enrollment in K-12 publicly funded schools in California fell by almost 3%, or 160,000 students in 2020-21, the largest drop in 20 years, according to annual data released Thursday by the California Department of Education. The drop takes into account an increase of 22,542 students attending charter schools, which enroll about one in nine students in California.
The falling numbers were spread across the state, with the four largest districts accounting for about a sixth of the decline in enrollment. Los Angeles Unified enrollment fell by 20,841 (4.76%), Long Beach by 2,003 (2.8%), San Diego by 4,270 (4.2%) and Fresno by 909 (1.3%). In the Bay Area, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties both lost more than 3% and Marin fell by 4.7%.
Gov. Doug Ducey rescinds orders requiring K-12 schools to mandate masks
Gov. Doug Ducey on Jan. 11, 2021.
Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona Department of Health Services rescinded orders that require K-12 schools to mandate masks.
On July 3, 2020, Ducey issued an executive order, which stated, “all school districts and charter schools shall develop and implement a policy to require face coverings,” but Ducey recently rescinded orders that require K-12 schools to mandate masks to be in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.
“Teachers, families and students have acted responsibly to mitigate the spread of the virus and protect one another, and our school leaders are ready to decide if masks should be required on their campuses. We will continue to work with public health professionals and Arizona’s schools as more students return to the classroom and our state moves forward,” Ducey said.
Masks to stay on in public schools despite state mandate ending
How the mask mandate lift affects downtown schools (Hailey Rein/Downtown Devil)
Update: On April 20, 2021, Gov. Doug Ducey rescinded the order requiring K-12 to mandate masks. For more information, read here.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey may have ended the state mandate on wearing masks, but the face coverings will stay up in schools, according to Arizona educators.
Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, announced that in Fall 2021, school districts and charter schools are required to mandate that masks are worn on campus, on school buses, and during school-associated activities by all faculty, staff, students, contractors and visitors.
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