Rachel Silberstein is reporting for the Times Union New York’s K-12 public schools will see a substantial drop in enrollment for the second year in a row, according to data just released by the state Education Department. The public school system lost 60,000 students in the past year alone. However, the 2021-22 data reported by districts could change considerably before final enrollment is reported later this year due to a number of factors, including, students transferring out of districts or dropping out. The pandemic appears to have accelerated a steady decrease in public school enrollment since 2011-12. In 10 years, enrollment has fallen 8 percent statewide, from just under 2.7 million to 2.45 million — a loss of more than 212,000 students. The Southern Tier is on track to see the deepest enrollment losses in the state for the second consecutive year, losing 4.7 percent of its student population in two years. In the Capital Region, Greene, Schoharie and Columbia counties saw the steepest declines. The number of Greene County K-12 students dropped 7.4 percent in two years, while Schoharie and Columbia County saw enrollment losses of just over 6 percent during the same time period. The only New York region that appears to have gained public school students in the last two years is the North Country. State education officials said it's unclear why the public school population has fallen in two years. "While there may be a variety of pandemic and non-pandemic-related factors for the enrollment decline, we cannot speculate on what specifically caused the decline," Education Department spokesperson Emily DeSantis said. Read the full story in the Times Union.