From Loose Coupling to Warm Embrace: Declining Enrollment and the Future of Urban Schools

Urban K-12 school systems are struggling with school closures due to widespread enrollment decline, which can spiral into further population loss and overall decline in affected neighborhoods. Analyzing enrollment and population data from Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles County, we argue that the loose coupling of school districts to cities has made it difficult to address the challenges that arise as student enrollment declines. We call on local and state governance to re-couple urban public schools with cities in order to mitigate future economic and social hardships for historically marginalized urban populations.