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A Smaller Generation

Number Of State Students To Fall

Associated Press

June 27, 2008

A new study shows that the number of students in Connecticut's schools will drop 17 percent in the next dozen years.

The study by the Connecticut State Data Center at the University of Connecticut shows enrollments have been going up for the past three decades as a result of the baby boomers and their children.

But the manager of the data center says what's coming now is a much smaller generation.

The study shows Connecticut's public school population crested at 523,100 two years ago, steadied off and then dropped by 3,886 last year.

A spokesman for the state Department of Education characterizes the coming decline as gradual, allowing teaching staff to be reduced through retirements, not layoffs.