The Universal Sports Institute in Yorba Linda was meant to keep and attract students at a time when enrollment and funding are falling. Some school board members aren’t sure the program is a good investment.

Falling birth rates, urban migration and school choice are keeping public school rosters down in North Carolina, especially in small towns.

“They’ve kind of come around,” says a school superintendent in Fargo, North Dakota.

Public schools’ funding partly depends on how many pupils are enrolled. Also, parents leaving the public system may be less willing to have their taxes pay for it.

Districts have been using the funds to renovate HVAC systems, hire staff and more. Now, some may need to cut program and jobs.

But having some students on a different schedule comes with challenges both societal and economic.

School districts big and small are increasingly popular targets for ransomware attacks.

The pandemic relief program that provided free meals was an outlier in the 75-year history of the federal school lunch program.

ESPs, or classified employees, are a chronically underpaid part of the education system. Low wages are driving them out of the profession.

It can be challenging to figure out whether pandemic-related changes will end up being permanent.