The Education Exchange: School Districts with Declining Enrollments Have Higher Funding, More Staff Per Pupil

Department of Education data reveal that growing districts are ones experiencing financial challenges

Photo of Ben ScafidiBen Scafidi, a Professor and Director of Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss his paper, “Enrollment, Fiscal, and Resource Changes in American Public School Districts, 1998 to 2019,” which was presented at “School Choice: Impacts on Participants, Non-Participants, Educators, and Entrepreneurs,” a conference hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Education Policy and Governance on May 7 and 8, 2026.

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