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Alabama鈥檚 public school enrollment could see its largest decline in 40 years, Alabama State Schools Superintendent Eric Mackey told members of the Alabama State Board of Education on Thursday.

Enrollment in the state鈥檚 K-12 schools in the 2024-25 school year , a slight increase over 2023-24. The department did not release numbers Thursday for the 2025-26 school year, but Mackey said Thursday only about 12 schools have seen growth in enrollment while other districts have seen numbers decline.

About 5,000 students have been unenrolled from public schools in the state with roughly 3,000 students total taking funds to go to a private school.

The CHOOSE Act is a voucher-like program that offers families up to $7,000 per qualifying child for education related expenses including private school tuition. The program currently operates under income caps scheduled to be lifted next year.

鈥淲e know a portion of [the students] took CHOOSE Act dollars and we鈥檙e working with the governor鈥檚 office and the Department of Revenue to figure out exactly what that number looks like,鈥� he told board members.

The department is expected to release final numbers next Friday.

The loss of students is a nationwide problem. In May, the that there would be a decline in public school enrollment, due to growth in private and charter school enrollment and the general aging of the population. Nationwide, public school enrollment is expected to fall by 7.6% by 2031. Alabama鈥檚

Mackey said Thursday he was mostly concerned with the 2,100 students who were enrolled last year that never showed up for school.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 transfer to private school, they didn鈥檛 go to home school, they didn鈥檛 go to school in another state. They just disappeared,鈥� he told the School Board of Education.

Mackey said local superintendents have reported to him that a majority of the unaccounted students are Hispanic.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if they鈥檙e still living in this state, just not going to school. If they have moved to another state, they did not enroll in school in that state,鈥� he told the board. 鈥淚f they left the country, we don鈥檛 know if they are documenting students or undocumented, because, as you know, that鈥檚 something we are not allowed to ask, and we don鈥檛 ask under federal law.鈥�

According to the , about 12% of students enrolled in Alabama public schools are Hispanic.

Mackey said getting these students back in school is important for their progress.

鈥淚f those students all come back to us in January and they missed a semester of instruction, we鈥檙e going to teach them, but we鈥檙e going to pick them up where they are,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would implore, publicly, [for] parents to get them back in school. The sooner they get back in school quicker, we can catch them up and move them forward.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: [email protected].

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