Grade school enrollment falls statewide and in L.A.
Grade school enrollment is declining statewide and locally as Latinos for the first time make up more than half of California's students, officials announced Friday.
The enrollment decline was slight throughout California -- down about 22,000 students from last year to 6.1 million this year. The current figures mark the sixth consecutive year of lower enrollment. Latinos now account for 50.4% of students, an increase of 1.4% over last year.
New federal regulations have added a multiple-race category, and 96,796 students classified themselves as such, or about 1.6% of the total.
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, overall student enrollment was down 6,793 to 671,648, according to figures released by the district. But without independent charter schools, the decline would have been steeper at more than 16,000.
Charters are independently managed and budgeted schools, and their state funding typically does not
