Families are moving their kids to private schools, charter schools, homeschooling and relocating to less-expensive areas.
Every weekday morning, Sharde Mercier drives her daughters, Aleeah, 8, and Alyssa, 10, past their old neighborhood school in the Alum Rock Union School District to get to a charter school in San Jose.More and more, Bay Area families – rich and poor – are opting out of nearby public schools in favor of charter, private or home schools. Many are sticking with the alternative schooling options that worked for them during last year’s school closures at the height of the COVID pandemic.
The pandemic declines last year worsened a years-long slide in neighborhood public school enrollment, according to a Bay Area News Group analysis of California Department of Education data. For Mercier, the choice to leave her neighborhood school wasn’t easy. But she said they didn’t feel comfortable as a Black family in a predominantly Latino school district, and wanted a school that would celebrate her kids’ culture and make them feel included.
More than 11% of families in the nation were home-schooling at least one of their children in fall 2021 compared to 5.4% in spring 2020, according to a U.S. Census Bureau“Most people believe homeschooling is a luxury,” she said. “I beg to differ. My husband and I both work full time, we’re not wealthy and we have average jobs. But we’re educated and have the willingness to do it.”
State leaders and legislators are hustling to help school leaders navigate looming financial distress as enrollment falls. Schools, regardless of socio-economic status or school performance, are suffering as students leave. But the complete picture of where kids are going and why looks different in each community.
Cupertino Union School District spokeswoman Erin Lindsey said families are leaving because of escalating home prices and rents they cannot afford.
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