(The Center Square) – Arizona public schools continue to increase their capital spending despite a continued decline in student enrollment, according to a new report.
The Common Sense Institute released a report on Thursday showing that public school student enrollment peaked in 2008. Since 2020, student enrollment declined by 5%, the report says.
Even though student enrollment has declined, public schools increased their facility sizes, capital spending and student capacity over the last five years.
Their school facilities’ square footage increased 3%, while their capital spending and student capacity increased 67% and 2%, respectively.
Glenn Farley, director of policy and research at CSI, said there is a disconnect between resources available to public schools and enrollment trends.
Besides these spending increases, he noted Arizona public schools also increased their spending on staffing, salaries and benefits since 2020.
These items went up 33%, he stated.
Farley said Arizona public schools have more stuff and more money, but fewer kids. He explained that he is “concerned about the sustainability of this” in the long term. He stated Arizona public schools were able to increase spending because of increased state revenue and federal money.
The report says Arizona K-12 spending from 2019 to 2024 increased by 53%.
Even with more education investment in recent years, Farley said federal and state support is starting to slow down for public schools compared to previous years.
Looking ahead, Farley noted this enrollment decline in public schools is going to continue because of demographics, citing the declining birth rate.
On top of this demographic shift, Farley stated public schools are also dealing with a “preference shift.” He said this preference shift means fewer kids are entering state public schools and seeking out other education options.
Farley stated before the COVID pandemic, 80% of five and six-year-olds enrolled in public school kindergarten classes, but after the pandemic, this number dropped to 60%.
With the declining enrollment in state public schools, these facilities will have lots of empty spaces.
The CSI report found that Arizona public schools have an extra 78 million square feet than what is needed for their current enrollment levels.
Farley said Arizona’s highest-performing academic schools had the least excess spaces compared to the worst-performing schools, which had the most excess spaces.
“There are tons of K-12 assets in the state, whether they’re buses, buildings or teachers, but they’re not necessarily located where the students are,” he explained.
Overall, Farley said Arizona public schools are “sitting on enough space for about 40% to 60% more students than are currently enrolled.”
To illustrate, the report highlights that this extra space is enough square footage to teach 630,000 high school students.
To help fill the use of these extra spaces, Farley said charter and alternative schools are interested in using public school facilities that are going unused.
Despite this interest, Farley stated this still would not fix the long-term problem of all the extra space that will not be used in public schools. He said schools need to come up with a “long-term plan” to divest from these extra spaces and sell “the assets that can never be filled.”
The director said these extra spaces could be used for residential or commercial purposes.
CSI’s report says public schools selling their extra space at office market rates could result in them making a profit of $12.2 billion.
With this decrease in school enrollment this has also led to a drop in the number of students using public school transportation options.
In 2024, Arizona public schools operated 7,660 vehicles to transport 233,716 “eligible riders,” the report notes. The total enrollment in all of the public schools was 859,519 students.
However, in 2019, Arizona public schools used 7,397 vehicles to transport 423,518 “eligible riders.” The total enrollment in Arizona’s public schools was 907,039 in 2019, the report says.
Between 2019 and 2024, “eligible riders” dropped by 189,802, representing a 45% decrease, according to CSI.
Farley said he was “shocked” by the decline in ridership.
As to why ridership numbers decreased, Farley explained there could be several possibilities.
He stated the state’s public school transportation formula is “very old and very narrow,” referencing how “eligible riders” can only ride to their assigned public schools.
Farley explained there are “far fewer kids who fit this narrow category today than there were before the pandemic.”
Another reason Farley thinks ridership numbers have fallen off is that people adapted to the pandemic when parents had to transport their kids back and forth from school.
As the public school student enrollment declines, schools are starting to close.
This year, 10 K-12 schools closed their doors, according to CSI.
These school closures will affect nearly 100,000 students.
Mesa Public Schools and the Arizona Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
