EDUCATION
As student enrollment declines, more Albuquerque schools are shutting down
Two charter schools and a Catholic school are closing ahead of the new school year
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Two Albuquerque charter schools and a Catholic school will not reopen for classes this fall due to low enrollment, school leaders said.
Equip Academy, a Northwest Albuquerque charter school for kindergarten through fifth grade, closed before ever opening its doors to students, school leadership announced at a meeting Monday.
The school received its charter last year from the state Public Education Commission. The 2026-27 school year would have been its first.
鈥淲e didn't close because we weren't successful. We closed because we didn't have the students,鈥� James Abeyta Stevens, chair of the school鈥檚 governing board, said at Monday鈥檚 board meeting.
Equip joins a growing list of Albuquerque schools that have closed as student populations shrink.
Voz Collegiate Preparatory Charter School, a charter middle school in Albuquerque鈥檚 International District, shuttered June 30 after a decline in enrollment since early 2025 left the school 鈥渘o longer financially viable,鈥� the governing board announced in a news release.
鈥淭his was an incredibly difficult decision for both myself and our governing board,鈥� board Chair Reilly White said in a statement. 鈥淲e are deeply proud of the academic community we built here in Albuquerque, and we are immensely grateful to our dedicated faculty, staff and families who poured their hearts into our students.鈥�
The school opened in 2021 and had 106 students last school year, according to a school spokesperson.
Private schools are not immune to enrollment declines 鈥� both Holy Ghost Catholic School in Albuquerque and Holy Cross Catholic School near Espa帽ola will not reopen after 73 and 76 years in operation, respectively, due in part to what the Archdiocese of Santa Fe says is low enrollment.
Holy Ghost had 130 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and Holy Cross had 60, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
The state鈥檚 largest district, Albuquerque Public Schools, may be feeling enrollment declines the most deeply. The district is down more than 22,000 students in the last decade, from around 86,500 in 2015 to 63,700 last year.
Since 2023, APS has closed Duranes and La Luz elementary schools as well as Taft Middle School in an effort to adjust its scale.
At the end of last school year, APS cut 290 full-time equivalent positions, though district officials said they were able to find other jobs throughout the district for all displaced employees.
APS Superintendent Gabriella Dur谩n Blakey said Monday the district is expecting a drop of about 1,500 students 鈥� as it has every year in recent memory 鈥� when the new school year starts Friday.
鈥淲e anticipate to be down in enrollment from last year, just based on birth rates and our kindergarten enrollments,鈥� Dur谩n Blakey said.
The number of school-age children has been declining nationwide, a delayed result of declining birth rates and demographic changes, according to Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education.
鈥淭he pandemic supercharged those trends,鈥� Dee said.
Public schools in particular 鈥� which are funded in New Mexico using a per-student formula 鈥� have suffered from this loss of enrollment, Dee said.
鈥淲hen schools offered remote-only schooling, many families, in particular families with very young children, found other accommodations for their kids, typically in private school or a surprisingly large amount in homeschools,鈥� he said.
When schools lose students, many of their fixed costs, like maintenance, cleaning, heating and cooling, remain the same despite lower funding.
鈥淪o many school districts that have had substantial and sustained enrollment loss in the wake of the pandemic are struggling with its financial implications and thinking about closing schools,鈥� Dee said.
The number of children in Albuquerque fell 15% from 2015 to 2024, according to a analysis of census data. Half the decline is attributable to more families leaving than moving in, the Wall Street Journal reported, and the other half is from a falling birthrate.
New Mexico was one of four states in the nation to report a population decline in 2025, due in part to lower levels of international immigration. More Americans left New Mexico than moved to it last year, and deaths outpaced births, though the population losses were not replaced with immigrants as usual, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
As Baby Boomers age, the U.S. has fewer people of childbearing age than it did, Dee said 鈥� and having a child has gotten a lot more expensive.
鈥淚 think it's also seen as a response to structural challenges in the economy,鈥� he said.
Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.
