Demographers have been predicting declining student numbers for decades now.
We’ve known about the baby boomers, and that the following generations had fewer children.
If you have fewer people having fewer children, the numbers decline rapidly.
The minimum replacement rate is 2.1 children (one kid replaces each parent, and 0.1 for premature death, wars, etc).
Wikipedia has a great article on Sub-replacement Fertility rates if you are interested in following up on this matter. What you can see is the Death of the West in play.
Bottom line: I’m not surprised by dwindling numbers of students in Moscow and Pullman government schools. That’s the future.
But will they need to keep increasing their budgets for fewer and fewer students.
Pullman School District experiencing enrollment decline for the first time in years
The Pullman School District is experiencing its first enrollment decline in several years. There are 2.788 students attending Pullman Schools right now. That’s down 29 students from last year. The district had experienced annual enrollment growth since 2011. Staff is expecting another enrollment drop next year.