Massachusetts Sees Decrease in Student Enrollment, Increase in Economically Disadvantaged Population

Earlier, I noted that the percentage of Economically Disadvantaged students in the Lynn Public School District increased 6.9 points from the 2019-20 school year to the 2020-21 school year. Economically disadvantaged is defined as student participation in one or more of the following state administered programs: 

• the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• the Transitional Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC)
• the Department of Children and Families' (DCF) foster care program
• MassHealth (Medicaid)
  

Taking a look at the non-charter school districts in the state with the highest percentages of Economically Disadvantaged students this year, all of the top ten districts saw increases as well. 

	2019-20	2020-21	Difference
Springfield	77.6%	81.8%	4.2
Holyoke	78.1%	81.4%	3.3
Lawrence	70.7%	78.5%	7.8
Southbridge	71.6%	77.2%	5.6
New   Bedford	68.0%	74.0%	6.0
Fall River	70.0%	73.8%	3.8
Chelsea	63.9%	70.6%	6.7
North Adams	61.9%	66.6%	4.7
Fitchburg	61.9%	66.4%	4.5
Brockton	57.5%	65.5%	8.0

Statewide, the percentage of Economically Disadvantaged students increased from 32.8% last year to 36.6% this year. In terms of pure numbers, this equates to the 333,829 Economically Disadvantaged students this year versus 310,873 in 2019-20. 

Data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu

Latest DESE Reports Reveal Important Stats Re: Massachusetts' Largest School Districts

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently released the enrollment figures for the 2018-2019 school year (as of October 1, 2018). The five largest districts in terms of overall enrollment - Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Brockton, and Lynn - represent 14% of the state's public school enrollment.

Naturally, the Boston Public School district has the highest enrollment in the state at 51,443. In the last five years, however, enrollment has been declining, decreasing 5% since the 2014-2015 school year.

In addition to a declining enrollment, BPS has seen other changes to its student population.

The number of students overall has decreased overall but the proportion of First Language not English, English Language Learner, Students with Disabilities, and Economically Disadvantaged has increased since 2014. For example, in 2014-2015 there were approximately 26,776 economically disadvantaged students; in 2018-2019, that number had increased to 29,065.

Springfield and Brockton also noted a decline in their district student population in the last year (minus about 300 for both) while Worcester reported an increase of 109 and Lynn 234.

In terms of selected populations, the percentage of English Language Learners in Worcester, Springfield, Lynn and Brockton ranged from 25% to 32.8%. One of the most surprising stats was the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in Springfield.

Since 2014, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in Springfield has been over 65% but the percentage increased 7 points from 2015-16 to 2016-17 and another 3 points the following school year; Holyoke is the only non-charter school district with a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students (the other districts noted here had percentages in the 50's). The current proportion of economically disadvantaged is equivalent to approximately 19,403 students. Additionally, nearly a quarter of the Springfield district population are students with disabilities.

For more information:

• Enrollment by Grade Report
• Selected Population Report

Source: www.doe.mass.edu