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Pandemic enrollment declines
Two new reports reflect that Texas, as in the nation, experienced declines in enrollments of homeless students and in Head Start programs due to the pandemic.

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Homeless Students
The National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) reported that from School Years
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2019-20 to 2020-21, enrollment of homeless students declined by 181,645 students nationally (14 percent), from 1,280,866 students to 1,099,221 students.

For Texas, during the same period, enrollment of homeless students dropped from 111,411 to 93,096, a decrease of 18,315 students (16 percent).

The NCHE is a U.S. Department of Education authorized program housed at a North Carolina state university.

See also K-12 Dive.

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Head Start
Meanwhile, the Rutgers University-based National Institute for Early Education Research
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(NIEER) reported declines in Head Start enrollments (press release).

In Texas (reported here), 20,095 fewer children enrolled in Head Start (and 340 fewer enrolled in Early Head Start) between School Years 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Nationally (see full report), Head Start showed a decline of 257,000 children (and 22,000 fewer in Early Head Start).

NIEER used the report’s findings to call for increasing, by $10 billion ($2.5 billion a year over four years), the current federal Fiscal Year 2022 Head Start allocation of $11 billion to increase participation and improve the quality of Head Start services for preschool programs, especially to reach children of families living in poverty.