Washington – Fueled by the burgeoning Hispanic population, the number of public school children nationwide increased by 4.7 million from 1993 to 2003, the largest growth since the baby boomers started school.
Hispanic students accounted for 64 percent of the growth, or 3 million children.
“Latinos have been the key (to the growth of) student population over all of American public education,” said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Hispanic Center and author of the study.
Nationally, the number of black students increased by 1.1 million from 1993 to 2003, the number of Asian students increased by 500,000, and the number of white students declined by 35,000, said the report, which is based on data from the Department of Education.
The impact of high rates of immigration in the 1980s and 1990s – which produced an influx of young Hispanic adults in their prime childbearing years – is most evident in the numbers of Hispanic students in elementary schools, the study said.
From 1993 to 2003, Hispanic enrollment in public elementary schools increased by 1.6 million. During the same time, the enrollment of black students increased by 390,000, Asian enrollment increased by 219,000, and white enrollment declined by 1.2 million, the study showed.
In addition, the report said that white students for the most part still attend mostly white schools.
The Pew Center report also shows that the nation has seen a boom in the construction of new schools with more than 15,000 built between 1993 and 2003. That marks the most vigorous school construction period in the United States since the 1920s.
