Outmigration In Hawaii Is Expected To Drive Major Declines In Public School Enrollment 0 About half of students leaving public school in Hawaii are moving to the mainland.
Enrollment in Hawaii public schools declined for the third year in a row, with roughly 3,000 fewer students attending Hawaii’s 295 public schools this year than the previous year — a trend that public school officials expect will continue for years to come.
Since the start of the pandemic, enrollment in public schools has declined by 5.9%. By 2027, that number is expected to plummet another 13.8% to 148,096 students.
Enrollment is decreasing nationally because of lower birth rates. There was a noticeable drop in families having children during the great recession in the late 2000s that is now impacting elementary school enrollment, said Tammi Oyadomari-Chun, the Department of Education’s new deputy superintendent of strategy.
But outmigration is also driving the decline in Hawaii. About half of students leaving Hawaii’s public schools are moving to the mainland, Chun said.
