Arkansas Public Schools Face Declining Enrollment While Charter and Online Schools Surge

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You may have seen the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s report on the sudden loss of enrollment by the Springdale School District, the state’s largest school district.

Superintendent Jared Cleveland told the school board that enrollment this fall is down by 621 students compared with a year ago, despite a net gain of 121 students at the high school level. “That’s the size of an elementary school, and that’s worrisome,” Cleveland said, according to the newspaper’s report.

The official enrollment figures released this month by the Arkansas Department of Education show a somewhat smaller decline for Springdale schools, down 559 for a fall 2025 total of 21,097. But losing enrollment is normal for most public schools in the state; of 259 public school districts and public charter schools, only 64 showed any gains in enrollment compared with last fall.

The Little Rock School District’s official enrollment decline was even larger than Springdale’s, down by 601 in a single year to 18,964. That’s 3% of last fall’s enrollment.

Overall, public school districts and public charter schools reported fall enrollment of 465,421, a loss of about 1.9% from last year. The schools that reported significant increases were mainly charter schools, especially Arkansas Connections Academy, an all-online school nominally located in Bentonville but available for students statewide. Its enrollment grew by 1,205 to 5,780 — a 26% increase in a single year.

The elephant in the room when the subject is public school enrollment is, of course, the state’s voucher program for private schools and parents who homeschool. There is no comprehensive report on private school enrollment for fall 2025, but Arkansas Business has been surveying approximately 200 private schools for a list that will be published in a couple of weeks.

Spoiler alert: Private schools are generally growing — but not by as much as one might assume.

According to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Springdale Superintendent Cleveland told his school board that only 42 students transferred to private schools, while 96 left to be homeschooled. Meanwhile, 345 former Springdale public school students left Arkansas altogether — mostly for other states, while 62 relocated out of the country.