Chicago's public schools sees 10,000-student enrollment drop

CHICAGO (AP) - Enrollment at Chicago's public schools fell by 10,000 a year after the district reported a drop of 11,000 students.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the last two years continue a trend of steadily declining enrollment that started 15 years ago.

But the drop to a total of just over 361,000 students won't hurt the budgets of schools as much as previous declines have because the CPS opted this year to base school budgets on enrollment counts from the last school year rather than this year's 20th day of classes.

Still, 54 schools that requested "funding advances" based on anticipated enrollment growth that didn't materialize will lose more than $3 million.

But CPS says 249 district-run schools where enrollment increased received a total of more than $15.5 million in extra funding.