The Los Angeles Unified School District is reporting a significant decline in enrollment, which it attributes to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The district said enrollment is down more than 4 percent compared to last year.
“These declines reflect a climate of fear and instability created by ongoing immigration crackdowns, which disrupt family stability, housing, and mobility,” said LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho in a statement. “These fears are now exacerbating pre-existing factors that were already driving statewide enrollment declines – including falling birth rates, rising housing costs, and broader economic pressures. When families are afraid to be seen, or when they cannot afford to remain in their communities, they are less likely to enroll, reenroll, or stay in public schools.”
Carvalho said unless these issues are addressed at the state level, schools across the state will “face long-term ramifications that will affect classrooms, staffing, programming, and the future of public education itself.”
“Our responsibility is to ensure every child – regardless of where they were born – feels safe in our schools,” he said. “We will continue to stand firmly with our immigrant communities and protect every student’s right to a welcoming, stable, and supportive education.”
LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the country, enrolling more than 429,000 students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade, according to its website.
LAUSD released numbers this week reflecting its annual count of actively enrolled students. The practice, known as “Norm Day,” takes place on the fifth or sixth Friday of the school year. This year, Norm Day fell on Friday, Sept. 19. The district then realigns its teacher workforce based on current student enrollment.
As far as newcomer students — those enrolled for three years or fewer in any U.S. school — the district’s 2023-24 end-of-year data show that 21,997 were enrolled in LAUSD. That number made up 5.2 percent of the student population.
In 2024-25, newcomer enrollment declined to 19,110 students, the district said. The downward trend continued in 2025–26, with recent data showing an additional decline of 1,768 students, bringing the enrollment to 17,342 and reducing the number of newcomers to 4.4 percent of the student population, according to LAUSD.
“While Newcomers have historically been a vibrant and growing part of our school communities, their enrollment has declined significantly over the past three years, with year-over-year decreases that mirror the uncertainty many families are living through,” Carvalho said.