Classrooms across San Diego County are growing quieter, and the numbers back it up.
Data released by the California Department of Education shows public school enrollment is dropping again, part of a statewide loss of 74,961 students, the sharpest decline since the pandemic.
Locally, nearly 3,900 students disappeared from San Diego County schools in just one year.
The longer view is even more stark: enrollment has fallen by 33,000 over the past eight years.
The region’s largest district, San Diego Unified, alone lost 1,309 students compared to last year.
What’s driving the exodus? Fewer children, and fewer families staying put.
“We just find that families are having less kids,” Dr. Kristine Shipman of the county Office of Education told CBS 8.
But the issue goes beyond birth rates.
The cost of living is pushing families out of the region entirely, Shipman said.
For many, the solution is leaving.
“We’re finding that some younger families are choosing to relocate out of the area [to] find affordable housing for their families with a yard that their kids can play in,” she added.
That population shift is hitting school budgets hard.
With funding tied to attendance, fewer students means fewer dollars and tough choices.
Another factor: fewer migrant students enrolling as agricultural jobs decline.
“Decrease in the availability of farmland is going to have an impact on the number of our migrant students that are in San Diego County,” Shipman said.
The trend stretches beyond San Diego.
In Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Unified School District saw enrollment plunge by more than 16,000 students, about 4%, in the 2025–26 school year, dropping to roughly 389,000.
That’s part of a dramatic long-term slide, with enrollment down more than 40% over two decades.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, a staggering three-quarters of school districts across the state are now wrestling with shrinking classrooms as a perfect storm of declining birth rates and high housing costs reshapes the Golden State’s education landscape.