More than two years after Covid-19 emptied classrooms from coast to coast, many of the nation’s largest school districts in 2022-23 were still feeling the aftereffects of the pandemic.
The AS&U 100 list of the nation’s largest public school districts shows that in 2022-23, more than three-quarters had yet to see their student numbers return to pre-pandemic levels.
The slow rebound also is reflected in national and statewide numbers. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed U.S. public school enrollment at 49,526,054--about 173,000 more than 2021-22, but 1.2 million less than the 50.7 million enrolled in public schools in 2019-20 before the pandemic.
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, only 12 had student numbers in 2022-23 than exceeded their 2019-20 enrollment figures.
Comparing 2022-23 to the previous year, 51 of the 100 largest districts saw enrollments rise, if only slightly, from 2021-22.
The numbers for the AS&U 100 are gather from state departments of education, individual districts, and the NCES. In some cases, the numbers do not agree, often because of how charter school enrollments are categorized.
The nation’s largest public school district remains the New York City system, which reported a 2022-23 enrollment of 1,047,895—509,000 more students than the second-largest district in Los Angeles.
Year to year, enrollment change is gradual; 99 of the districts appearing on the AS&U 100 for 2021-22 remain on the list for 2022-23. The Collier County (Florida) district, with 48,082 students, claimed the 100th spot in the AS&U 100, displacing the Jefferson Parish (Louisiana) school system, which had 47,429 students, according to the Louisiana Department of Education.
Over 25 years, the change is more substantial; 25 of 100 largest school districts in 1997-98, mostly in larger cities (e.g., Cleveland, Boston, Buffalo, Minneapolis) have seen enrollment drop significantly and have fallen off the lists
The AS&U 100 is dominated by the nation’s three largest states—California, Texas and Florida account for nearly half of the districts on the list. Led by the Houston district, Texas had 20 of the 100 largest school systems in 2022-23. Florida, which has countywide systems throughout the state, has 17 districts in the AS&U 100, including five of the 11 largest in the nation. California, the most populous state, had more than 5.8 million students enrolled in public schools and 10 school districts in the AS&U 100.
Higher Education: Online universities top the list
Higher education institutions that provide instruction to their students online--a clear advantage when in-person instruction is problematic--have come to dominate the lists of colleges and universities with the largest student enrollments.
The four universities with the largest student numbers in fall 2022--Southern New Hampshire University, Western Governors University, Grand Canyon University and Liberty University--also topped the list in fall 2021 and fall 2020. Together, they enrolled more than 500,000 students.
Western Governors University was bumped from the top spot by Southern New Hampshire University with 164,091 students, a jump of 18,500 from the previous yeaar.
Several other universities in the top 25 are primarily online institutions--University of Phoenix, University of Maryland Global Campus, and Arizona State University Digital Immersion.
Only one institution among the top 25 in fall 2022 was different from the 2021 list. Pennsylvania State University, which combined student numbers from multiple campuses reported nearly 89,000 students in fall 2021. In 2022, those campuses have reported their numbers individually, and the Penn State-Main Campus, with 50,028 students, just missed the list.
The overall fall 2022 headcount for higher education institutions rose slightly from fall 2021 numbers. The National Center for Education Statistics said 18,952,385 students were enrolled in postsecondary institutions in fall 2022, compared with 18,659,851 in fall 2021. Women made up 58% of fall 2022 higher education enrollment--10,998,040 compared with 7,952,345 men.
About the Author
Mike Kennedy
Senior Editor
Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.