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CPS enrollment falls to 316,224 in SY26; district sees sharp drop in new student inflow
Summary
CPS reported SY26 enrollment of 316,224, a decline of roughly 9,000 students year-over-year and a large drop in new students entering the district to about 38,000; the district flagged declines among English learners and Latinx students and said IEP counts rose 2.5 percent.
Sarah Kempner, executive director of Insights and Research, presented the district’s SY26 enrollment snapshot to the Chicago Board of Education on Oct. 23. She reported total district enrollment at 316,224 students, down just over 9,000 from last year and about 6,000 fewer than the 2022–23 school year, which had been the prior low.
Kempner said the decline was driven primarily by a sharp drop in new students joining the district compared with prior years; CPS recorded just over 38,000 new students this year. Declines occurred across nearly every grade and school type, with particularly notable reductions at preschool, kindergarten and ninth grade — traditional entry points. While English-learner enrollment fell, the number of students with individualized education programs (IEPs) increased by about 2.5 percent compared with last year.
Kempner’s slides showed geographic variation across community areas and that the major categories of students leaving the district included transfers outside Chicago and transfers to private schools. She cautioned that exit codes have limits: the district relies on family notification and school follow-up and cannot always fully explain the motivations behind departures without further surveys or outreach.
Board members asked whether CPS conducts predictive trend analysis and whether it can survey families who leave to identify root causes. Kempner said planning and data-management teams undertake multi-year forecasting and that the research team can pursue targeted surveys, though response bias is a concern for families already in transition. The district agreed to provide additional attendance updates and to explore targeted follow-up surveys.
Next steps: CPS will provide follow-up attendance reports and consider additional parent outreach and exit-survey options to better understand motivations behind transfers and declines.
