Public school leaders in Arizona recently convened a summit to combat an existential crisis.
Across the state, enrollments at district public schools are falling. Last month, superintendents gathered in Phoenix at the “Traditional Public Schools Messaging Summit” to strategize ways to improve the perception of public education. The goal: woo families and bolster political support.
In an opening brainstorming session, educators shouted out benefits of public schooling. “We welcome all!” said one person. “We represent the community,” added another. There are “comprehensive choices” in public education, chimed in a third.
Arizona is at the leading edge of a reckoning in public education. Nationwide, declining birthrates and rising competition—from alternatives like charter schools, private education and home schooling—have eroded student bodies at the regular neighborhood schools that generations of Americans attended.
The number of U.S. first-graders in public schools in 2023, the most recent year available, was the smallest since the early 1990s (excluding one pandemic-disrupted year), according to federal data. Twenty-one percent of children didn’t attend a traditional public school in 2023, up from 17% in 2019, according to a Brookings Institution report.