Falling U.S. K-12 enrollment prompts public-school staff and program cuts

Methuen weighs budget cuts against rising student needs

Falling birthrates are driving down U.S. public-school enrollment and pushing districts to consider staff and program cuts. An analysis of federal data by Marguerite Roza, a Georgetown professor who studies education finance, found K-12 public-school enrollment totaled 48.8 million students in 2025-26, down 3.7% from 2017-18.

In Methuen, a middle-class city of about 55,000 near the New Hampshire border, budget strains set up a debate over middle-school band, elementary-school science and more than 100 positions ranging from custodians to teacher specialists. The district was weighing which programs and staff positions it could retain as enrollment declined.

By May, teachers and parents packed a city council meeting, where they argued proposed cuts would balloon class sizes. Parent Anney Barrett, whose then-fifth-grade son played trombone, said, “Cutting fine arts feels like a red line to me,” as the district considered cuts to the arts program.

Similar debates are playing out across the U.S. In Massachusetts, which has long prided itself on a top-tier public education, the pressure is visible in neighboring districts. Dracut Public Schools is considering closing an elementary school that has shrunk to 210 students from almost 300. The district is also considering eliminating busing for some grades and reducing full-day kindergarten to half. North Andover closed an elementary school last year and redistributed about 200 students after enrollment declined.

Roza said, “We definitely have too many schools for how many kids we have.” Annual U.S. births have fallen since peaking in 2007, and current kindergarten enrollment reflects missing births from five to six years earlier. Demographers like Roza expect the enrollment decline to continue, and potentially accelerate, as birthrates remain lower.

Lower birthrates are not the only source of enrollment pressure. Some families are being priced out by rising housing markets, and others are choosing private or alternative schools. School officials also said federal policies targeting immigrants have prompted some parents to withdraw their children from school. These pressures compound the decline associated with fewer births.

Massachusetts ties education aid to enrollment, while cities and towns contribute local funds. When student numbers fall, districts still face high fixed costs for staffing, buildings and services.

Michelle Reitano, a Methuen kindergarten teacher, said her class sizes have ranged from 16 to 18 children in recent years, down from 20 to 24 when she began teaching in the district in 2012. At the same time, she said, more students exhibit autism, developmental issues and other special needs, and more students struggle with English as a second language. “Enrollment is falling but the needs are rising,” Reitano said. “The conversation happens year after year, and it definitely seems to get worse.”

Over the years, Methuen has eliminated teaching positions and cut some Spanish and health-education classes. Rather than hiring additional librarians, the district’s high-school librarian spends a few hours a week at each of its K-8 schools. At one school, art-class sizes have grown as budget cuts reshape schedules and course offerings. “There are no obvious decisions, no easy call,” said Dan Shibilia, a parent who has served on the district’s school board.

This past spring, the school committee initially approved a $118 million budget for 2026-27, higher than the $114 million the city said it could afford. The shortfall prompted debate over what the community wanted its schools to offer. Fourth-grade teacher Sharon LaPlante argued that there was no way teachers could handle classes of 28 students, especially when many had additional needs, and said, “It won’t be teaching. It will be monitoring.” Barrett’s grade-school daughter, Helen, said children were already losing out after wellness classes were cut. “That was where we learned about how to help someone that was being bullied and what to do if you feel really mad or sad at school,” she said.

David P. Beauregard Jr., the mayor and school committee chair, found an extra $800,000 to preserve the district’s after-school programs. The district called back some teachers it had let go, and only dozens of positions were ultimately eliminated. The cuts included K-6 teachers, medical assistants, school counselors, a multilingual teacher and a technology specialist. The district also shelved plans for a new financial literacy program.

Nicholas DiZoglio, the school committee’s vice chair, has considered whether the district should reorganize its four K-8 schools into an elementary school, a junior high and a collaborative school for students with special needs. Under the idea, seventh- and eighth-graders could participate in sports at the high-school level, while juniors and seniors could take college courses at nearby UMass Lowell. “I don’t want to close schools,” DiZoglio said. “It’s about utilizing our assets better.”

To try to boost enrollment, Methuen recently voted to open 10 seats to students from outside the district. Interim Superintendent Lisa G. Twomey does not view that as a meaningful long-term solution because lower birthrates are affecting the whole state. “We’re trying to play for the same students—of which there are fewer,” she said.

The district is also expanding vocational offerings to retain more high-school students and plans to save money over time by creating an in-house special-education program. Sending children with disabilities to outside programs currently costs the district millions each year. Twomey recently asked the school committee to add special-education teachers, a school-transportation administrator and an overseer for the high school’s vocational program. “We got them, but it’s always a shuffle,” she said.