Now that virtually all public schools have restarted, with on-campus classes, it will be interesting to learn how many students who began home schooling or other non-public approaches to learning have returned to the public schools. Very many ended up in private schools, parent-organized learning pods, garage-based micro-schools or learning at the kitchen table, more than a few will stay there.
My guess is that public school enrollments are down by a non-trivial amount. I'll be surprised if they are down by more than 10%. Even that amount is huge because schools are funded on the basis of enrollments and will get less state money for fewer attending students.
Do you suppose that, looking back, we will conclude the Covid pandemic marked the beginning of the end of broadly attended public schools? And the beginning of their evolution into being "educators of the remnant" of poor and difficult children as they've long been in the South.
