D.C.’s enrollment audit for school year 2025-26, released in March 2026, shows that the number of students is almost flat compared to the previous year (decline of 0.1 percent), with about 100 fewer students than school year 2024-25.[i] This comes on the heels of three years of growing enrollment in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 as well as adult and alternative schools, and is aligned with the D.C. Policy Center’s recently released five-year enrollment projections. High school enrollment increased by 0.9 percent, due to upticks in grades 11 and 12, and elementary and middle school. By special population, English learners declined by 1 percent.
A 3 percent decrease in pre-kindergarten enrollment (or 356 fewer students) was responsible for the slight decline. There were greater declines in PK4 (down by 4.1 percent) than PK3 (down by 1.5 percent) Still, a similar share of babies born in D.C.[ii] are enrolling when they turn three (61 percent) compared to previous years, indicating a consistent level of demand for families to live in D.C. and attend public schools.
Data from My School DC’s common lottery for school year 2026-27 suggests this trend of lower pre-kindergarten enrollment is likely to continue.[iii] PK3 applications, the most popular entry grade, declined by 8 percent, with the largest declines in Wards 2 and 3—followed by Wards 1 and 4. If a similar share of applicants enroll in the fall of 2026 compared to previous years (92 percent), this could mean a PK3 enrollment around 4,898 students (8.6 percent drop from this year).
[i] Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). 2026. Enrollment Audit Data. OSSE. Retrieved from: https://osse.dc.gov/node/604172
[ii] Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME). 2026. Number of Births and Birth Rates. DME. Retrieved from: https://edscape.dc.gov/page/pop-and-students-number-births-and-birth-rates
[iii] My School DC. 2026. Lottery Data. My School DC. Retrieved from: https://www.myschooldc.org/resources/data