In Burrell School District, teachers are preparing for a fourth consecutive year with fewer than 100 students in kindergarten.
That would be fine if small kindergarten classes were what Burrell was built to accommodate. It is not, however, the historical norm. The district’s kindergarten enrollment has fallen by about 23% over the past decade. That might not seem like a problem. It could mean more space in the classroom or more opportunities for participation.
But that’s not quite how it works.
Burrell is not alone. Eight of the 11 districts in the Alle-Kiski Valley have also seen slumping enrollment in recent years. The same is true of Franklin Regional, Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley, Penn-Trafford and others in Westmoreland County.
It isn’t just smaller districts, either. Pittsburgh Public Schools has just moved forward with a plan for closings and restructuring based on declining numbers.
The problem comes because school districts play a long game. They plan years down the road because making last-minute changes is difficult when those changes affect thousands of children’s lives.
Declining enrollment is also a more complicated issue than increasing numbers, even though it might seem easier to handle. More students might be handled with larger class sizes or wedging in more desks. It could require temporary trailers to accommodate more students. In the long term, it means building projects.
But fewer students can have costs, too.
It might seem to point to smaller class sizes. But it can sometimes mean the opposite as classes might be reconfigured, pushing two smaller groups into an oversized one. Operating a building too large for the student body can mean a disproportionate use of staffing, equipment and utilities. Consolidating buildings can increase transportation costs.
That hurts because, if student enrollment is down, it also can mean overall district population is falling, leaving fewer people to foot the bills.
And that circles back to a problem that has plagued Pennsylvania for generations — funding school districts based on property taxes. It builds on the inequality outlined in the 2023 Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruling that called the way schools are funded unconstitutional.
Declining enrollment can exacerbate the unfairness as it increases the burden and potentially leaves it to fall on fewer shoulders.
The solution, in any other business, would be to correct such a decline. However, it’s not a school district’s job to recruit residents, only to support the ones there.
Districts are left to cut staff or let it wither through attrition, to merge physical facilities and possibly to trim services where possible. All of that means districts from shrinking areas, like poorer areas, can have a very different educational experience than larger and wealthier locations.
The reality of tax burden and changing population is seen in the state’s demographics. Census data shows, while the state overall isn’t losing population, growth isn’t robust or uniform. While some city centers are increasing, others are slipping away. At the same time, the population is aging rapidly.
Commonwealth Court recognized inequality in education cannot be ignored simply because it has existed for a long time.
Demographic decline deserves the same attention. Pennsylvania can’t build an equitable education system for tomorrow while pretending it still serves the Pennsylvania of yesterday.