Seattle officials say it’s too early to know which schools would close but the majority of enrollment loss has been in elementary grades.

Source: School closures, cuts to clubs and music possible as WA schools face ‘cliff’ | The Seattle Times

They point to the pandemic policies that closed schools, and that 5% of students just disappeared. Home schooling has grown a lot in the past 3 years.

But the quoted sentence is the looming disaster – Washington, like many states, has a low fertility rate and that is now crashing into the school system. This is obvious at the elementary school level, where elementary schools closing nationwide due to declining enrollment- and some middle and high schools are starting to see the impacts. The oldest group at the start of the sharp fertility rate decline are just about to start college.

Meanwhile – across the state line in Idaho: CdA school board names schools that could close if levy doesn’t pass, declares financial emergency (paywalled) – alternate. Technically, this is due to a previously failed tax levy, they say. But north Idaho is seeing the closure of a birth center further north in Bonnor County – because there are no longer enough babies to staff a birthing center 24×7. The left blames birthing center closures on anti-abortion laws and falsely says this is only happening in “red” states – but maternity units are closing all across the country including the Bluest of states next door such as Washington and Oregon – the latter is a state that has no abortion restrictions up to the due date. And this has been happening for ten years – over 200+ have already closed because there are no longer enough babies happening to keep them in operation. This started long before 2022’s SCOTUS decision.

They are closing because there are insufficient births to keep maternity centers open 24×7 in smaller communities as the U.S. fertility rate has collapsed and continues to drop. The fertility rate in my own state is 1.39.

Coldstreams