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The latest enrollment figures released by Boston Public Schools officials this month show that the total number of students has dropped by almost 2,000 — or 4.2 percent— since last year.
BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper revealed the latest figure during the Boston School Committee meeting on Nov. 4.
Photo: BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper. Chris Lovett photo
“The district’s enrollment has declined approximately 21 percent in the last decade,” Skipper said. “This is roughly 5,000 students and 9 percent over the last five years. The October enrollment was down by 2,000 students from the previous year. This is the second year in a row of notable enrollment declines.”
This year’s enrollment dipped below 45,000 students for the first time with student growth from international immigration no longer able to “backfill” low birth rates in the city, Skipper added.
The comments came ahead of the Committee’s discussion on the latest round of school closures and mergers announced last week.
This year’s official enrollment figure –which is finalized annually on Oct. 1 statewide – was 44,846 students in all grades, which was a decline of 1,978 from last year. That follows a decline of 1,769 students in 2025-26. There are 11,014 fewer student this year than in 2017-18, according to BPS statistics.
The main driver is a national decline in birth rates, a trend that is very pronounced in Boston, Skipper noted. That trend of fewer children being born was mitigated previously by international immigration increases that resulted in more students. With stricter federal immigration policy under the Trump administration, those immigrant students are no longer filling the void.
“From 2022-23 to 2024-25, international immigration was high and compensated for the smaller cohorts moving through the system,” Skipper said. “In those three school years, those entering and exiting were equal. Since then, the district has experienced a steep decline in students entering the district with no backfill.”
This year, grades K2-5 were down slightly after staying steady in previous years. Grades 6-8 were down 420 students, which is a 5 percent decline from last year, and grades 9-12 “dropped again” with more than 1,000 fewer students this year (7 percent) over last year.
“There are now fewer kindergartners entering the district each year and moving up through the system,” Skipper said. “This year’s entering K2 cohort is the smallest in recent memory at just over 3,000 students, more than 1,000 fewer students (entering kindergarten) than a decade ago.”
Other sources of enrollment considerations not mentioned were the loss of students to public charter schools, the METCO program, and parochial schools.
Last year’s numbers showed Boston’s public charter schools at around 11,000 students in all grades, and the METCO program has seen approximately 10 percent enrollment growth in recent years.
In contrast to BPS, Seattle (Washington) Public Schools data shows prior to the pandemic they had around 53,000 students, slightly lower than BPS at the time. However, while Seattle’s enrollment has also declined, they are still at approximately 51,000 students
BPS is seeking to close schools to arrive at 95 school facilities by 2030. If the most recent closures are approved by the Committee, they will have 97 facilities, though Skipper has said further enrollment declines could mean more facilities closing. BPS also laid off and cut hundreds of teaching positions across the district last year.
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
