Linda Borg |The Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE Rhode Island has almost 4,000 fewer students enrolled in the public schools than it did before the pandemic struck, the product of a swirl of uncertainty this fall about which schools would open their classroomsand general fears about the pandemic.

Rhode Island has lost 2.59% of its public school students, or 3,937 children(141,000 students are enrolled in the state).

A joint study by The Associated Press and Chalkbeat, an online education news outlet, found that public-school enrollment this fall has declined nationally by more than 500,000 students, or 2%,since the same time last year. The study included 33 of the 50 states; 17 had not released data yet.

More: RI schools to resume classes on staggered schedule in January

More: Warwick set to begin in-person instruction for high-school, middle-school students

Massachusetts saw its K-12 enrollment fall by nearly 3%, or 28,000 students, according to Chalkbeat. Almost half of those students wound up being home-schooled or switching to private schools, but about 7,000 students remainedunaccounted for, state officials told Chalkbeat.

The biggest worry is that some students simply gave up and dropped out, although those numbers are harder to track.

In Rhode Island, as school-reopening plans changed over the summer, many parents opted to homeschool their children. Others chose not to send their children to preschool or kindergarten at all.

State Education Commissioner Anglica Infante-Green said she is working with districts to figure out where these students have gone. The good news, she said, is that Rhode Island has lost fewer children than most other New England states.

The danger and not just for Rhode Island is that schools already hit hard by the pandemic will lose even more state aid because the funding formula is based on student numbers.

Exeter-West Greenwich Supt. James Erinakes said his district has seena substantial increasein homeschooled students:49, to be precise. Twenty fewer students enrolled in pre-school and 31 fewer did so in kindergarten and grade 1.

Its a big deal, he said Wednesday. Its something were all worried about. Theyre going to show up next year and they wont be part of our enrollment numbers for the funding formula.

Warwick, which opened remotely this fall, saw its enrollment drop from 8,471 in October 2019 to 7,981 a year later. Supt. Philip Thornton said 96 more families opted to homeschool their children.

We have to react and plan accordingly, he said. Were ramping up our in-person opening. Well see how that goes. (Story, A2)

Some students may have enrolled in Catholic schools, but the Diocese of Providence said it did not register an increased number of students this school year.

Middletown Supt. Rosemarie Kraeger has been hit with a double-whammy 100 more students are being homeschooled and fewer military families have been relocated to her town. Typically, the Navy moves families in July and August. This year, they began arriving one, even two months later.

Middletown is one of four communities that gets federal impact aid for military families that attend its schools. Kraeger has been working with Rhode Islands congressional delegation to use last years military school enrollments as the baseline for this years federal aid formula.

The challenges dont stop there.

Last spring, a number of public schools decided to offer free meals to all students, not just those who applied for them. Free and reduced-price meals are typically available to children from lower-income families. How much state aid districts receive is based in part on how many students are living in poverty, with free meals serving as a proxy for poverty.

However, since many families didnt fill out applications for free meals because they were available to everyone, districts have an undercount on how many students are actually eligible, and that will affect their state aid.

Our hope is that people recognize that school districts are struggling with these unexpected changes, Erinakis said. Especially when we are spending more money to address COVID. We know those needs are not going away next year. There is learning loss and social and emotional needs that have to be addressed and will cost money.

Linda Borg covers education for the Journal.

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Enrollment in RI public schools is down by almost 4,000 students. Where have they gone? - The Providence Journal