THE PERSISTENT PRESENCE OF ABSENCE One of the ironies of the situation is that while enrollment declines, fewer schools are closing. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics found that in 2014-15, the closure rate—the share of schools nationwide that were open one year and closed the next—was 1.3%. In 2023-24, the rate was just .8%.
The public school exodus continues unabated.
The fact that many children are ditching America’s public schools is undeniable. Most recently, Nat Malkus, Deputy Director of Education Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, reported that while chronic absenteeism spiked during the COVID pandemic, it remains a serious problem. In 2024, rates were 57% higher than they were before the pandemic. (Students who miss at least 10% of the school year, or roughly 18 days, are considered chronically absent.)