Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Summit on Addressing Declining Enrollment: Looking for Bold, Innovative Ideas

Declining enrollment is the defining challenge facing California’s school districts right now. Nearly every district in the state is feeling it, and many are facing hard decisions about staffing, facilities, and programs as a result. We all know the causes are largely outside a district’s control: falling birth rates, the cost of housing, and families leaving the state. What is within our control is how we respond.

I would like to invite you to a statewide Summit on Addressing Declining Enrollment that I am convening on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 10 a.m. at the California Department of Education in Sacramento, with a virtual option.

This summit is not a forum for describing the problem. You already live it. It is a forum for solutions.

I want to hear what you are doing, what you are considering, and—most importantly—what you think we should be doing that we have not tried before to help offset declining enrollment or allow your district to do more for the students you have. Bring bold ideas. Bring innovative, unconventional ideas. Bring ideas that may seem too small, too ambitious, or too different. No idea is off the table simply because it has never been tried. This is an opportunity to challenge conventional thinking and imagine what California’s school districts could look like if we rethink how we attract and serve students.

Some ideas may be immediately actionable and some may require legislation or new funding, but let us explore what is possible together.

Please share your bright ideas through the brief survey to address declining enrollment and better support our students at https://surveys3.cde.ca.gov/go/presummit-enrollmentdecline.asp by Monday, September 21, 2026, at 5 p.m. We will review every response, and districts with promising strategies will be invited to present at the summit so the field can learn from your work.

At the summit, we will also share what the data tells us about the trends shaping enrollment across the state and preview our proposal to move California from an attendance-based funding model to an enrollment-based funding model.

Registration is open at tinyurl.com/Enrollment-Summit-2026 and will remain open through the day of the summit. I hope you will join us on October 1, share your ideas, and help build the momentum this moment requires.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction