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Across the United States, COVID pandemic aid money is helping to fund a growing number of big-city schools with shrinking(减少) numbers of students.

The summer program at Chalmers School of Excellence in Chicago, offers one-on-one teaching that parents love. But school head teacher Romian Crockett worries the school is becoming too small. Chalmers lost almost one-third of its enrollment during the pandemic. Today, only 215 students attend Chalmers.

The number of small schools like Chalmers is growing in many American cities. The pandemic quickened enrollment declines in many districts. Many families started homeschooling or sought enrollment at private schools. Some students moved away or stopped attending school for unknown reasons. More than one in five New York City primary schools had fewer than 300 students last school year. In Los Angeles, California, over one in four have fewer than 300 students. Many of these schools were not designed to be small. Educators worry there will be smaller budgets in the coming years, even as schools continue to recover from the pandemic.

A state law prevents Chicago from closing or combining its schools until 2025. Across the U.S., COVID-19 relief money is helping fund shrinking schools. It is unclear what will happen to those schools when the funding runs out. In many districts like Chicago, small schools sometimes struggle to pay for costs like the head teacher or building upkeep. To deal with that, many school systems send extra money to small schools, taking money from larger schools. In other cities, leaders have continued to invest in small schools. In Los Angeles and New York City, officials say they are centering their efforts on bringing students back into school, not closing them. But the relief money will run out in two years. Districts must use the money by September 2024. When the money is no longer there, it may be difficult for districts to keep small schools open.

“It’s a huge problem,” said Bruce Fuller, an education researcher. “It’s going to be increasingly difficult for people to justify keeping these places open as the number of these schools continues to rise.”

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