Across the United States, pandemic aid money is helping to fund a growing number of big-city schools with shrinking numbers of students.When the money runs out in a few years, officials will face a difficult choice: Keep the schools open despite the financial difficulty, or close them, upsetting communities looking for stability for their children.The summer program at Chalmers School of Excellence in Chicago, Illinois, offers one-on-one teaching that parents love.But school principal Romian Crockett worries the school is becoming too small.Chalmers lost almost one-third of its enrollment during the pandemic.Today, only 215 students attend Chalmers.In Chicago, COVID-19 worsened enrollment declines that began before the virus.Some poor Black neighborhoods in the city, like Chalmers’ North Lawndale, have seen families leave in large numbers over the past 10 years.The number of small schools like Chalmers is growing in many American cities.More than one in five New York City elementary schools had fewer than 300 students last school year.In Los Angeles, California, over one in four have fewer than 300 students.
