Austin public school enrollment down

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Austin's public school population has dropped by nearly 2,000 students over the past two years and school district officials say it's the first consecutive-year decline in at least two decades.

The city's public school district census this year is 84,791 — down 735 from a year ago. It was down some 1,200 students in 2013.

The Austin American-Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1s2ujGo ) demographers believe the decline could continue for the next decade due to middle-class families turning to charter schools, rising home prices

send families to the suburbs and a lower birth rate.

Charter school enrollment in Austin, for example, is up 13 percent to more than 14,000 students.

The enrollment decline could cost the Austin public school district about $5 million in state support, putting increased pressure on the district's budget.