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.

• Rhode Island athletes won 25 total medals at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis.
• Track athlete Thomas Poirier’s gold medal-winning 400-meter race gained viral attention on social media.
• The Rhode Island softball team won a gold medal after a comeback victory and a championship rematch.
• An injury to a teammate became a rallying cry for the softball team on their path to victory.

Rhode Island athletes took home five gold medals, nine silver medals and 11 bronze medals at 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which wrapped up on June 26.

The Rhode Island Special Olympians left for the games in private jets provided by Textron on June 15. A total of 50 members, including 24 athletes and their families, traveled to represent and cheer on Rhode Island.

“Once we went to the hangar on the way out to Minnesota, and there was a big rally, my husband Steve and I were looking at each other saying, ‘This is big. This is huge being invited to the USA games,’” Rena Megrdichian, mother of softball player Garen Megrdichian, said. “I guess we just didn’t realize what an honor this whole process was.”

After preliminary events on June 22 to group athletes accordingly, the medal rounds across multiple sports began the next day.

Rhode Island picked up three gold medals, three silver medals and four bronzes in bowling, swimming, powerlifting and track and field events on June 23. Despite the heavy medal count for the smallest state, one athlete’s finish went viral on social media.

Thomas Poirier, of North Providence, was placed in lane 5 of group 4 in the 400-meter after finishing fifth in his preliminary race with a time of 1:20.54. The race started, and Poirier hustled as hard as he could, but coming into the final 100 meters, he found himself in fourth place. Then, he kicked it into another gear. He passed the runner in third, then second and suddenly he was gaining on the leader he was about 25 meters behind just a few seconds prior. With 25 meters left to go, Poirier passed Noah Lamusga, of Minnesota, and took the lead and the gold medal.

The outdoor concert season in Vermont started in early June, but the alfresco musical offerings really began unfolding later in the month after summer’s official start.

July is overflowing with live music outdoors. In in southern and northern Vermont you can find festivals, and there are music series at both the Essex Experience and the Shelburne Museum.

Artists including “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jack White, Thundertcat, Trombone Shorty and Gillian Welch are playing big stages, while local standouts such as Dave Grippo, High Summer and the Vermont Jazz Ensemble are making their sounds heard in the fresh air as well. Here’s the definitive list.

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