Enrollment in Texas public schools in SY 25-26 dipped below 5.5 million students, representing a 1.4% decline in enrollment from the previous school year, according to research done by Texas 2036, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy and research organization.
According to a Texas 2026 report recently released, this marks the first year-over-year enrollment decline since SY 20–21, when enrollment fell 2.2% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the secondlargest drop in the state’s recent history, with high declines in Hispanic and early grade student enrollment. Roughly 76,000 fewer students enrolled in Texas public schools this academic year.
“What stands out in the data is that public school enrollment is falling even as Texas continues to grow,” said Carlo Castillo, a senior research analyst at Texas 2036, in a statement. “In many parts of the state, population gains are no longer translating into public school enrollment growth. That points to a broader structural shift policymakers and district leaders will need to plan for.”
The enrollment drop comes just before the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program goes into effect — a program designed to help parents pay to take their students from public to private school.
Of the more than 274,000 students who applied for TEFA accounts, about 95,600 were approved. Of the applicants approved in the first round, 53% had prior public-school education. In the second round, 32% had prior publicschool education.
Hispanic students accounted for 81% of this school year’s enrollment drop. The drop came over the past year as federal and state leaders increased antiimmigration rhetoric.
Breaking down data by grade-level shows which part of the K-12 system are seeing the largest enrollment declines. Between SY 24-25 and SY 25-26, elementary school enrollment (K-5) shrunk by 46,180 (2%), representing 60% of the overall student decline in statewide public-school enrollment.
Declines at the elementary level are especially significant because they indicate fewer students entering the system that will impact the student population in middle and high school enrollment in the years ahead.