A recent report from the Pioneer Institute found vocational-technical (or vo-tech) schools are growing in Massachusetts, despite an overall decrease in public school enrollment.
Because of declining birth rates and the newfound popularity of education alternatives such as homeschooling, K-12 public school enrollment has been decreasing nationwide.
In 2000, Massachusetts had about 980,000 public school students. It declined steadily until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused an even sharper drop, to 911,000.
As of 2024, only 916,000 students are enrolled in public school – an overall 6.5% loss since 2000.
However, the pandemic hit elementary and middle schools much harder than high schools.
Since 2019, Massachusetts high school enrollment has only declined 0.8%. But during this same period, public vocational-technical public schools increased their enrollment by over 5%.
