Declining enrollment, the end of pandemic relief grants, and state budget uncertainty have combined to put hundreds of California school districts in precarious financial straits.

Because California funds its schools based on attendance, fewer students equals less money.

Pandemic relief grants totaling more than $13.5 billion in California offered a buffer for many school districts facing financial hardship, but those grants expired this year.

The number of students enrolled in California's K-12 public schools has dropped by 461,000 students, or 7% over the past two decades.

Enrollment is expected to drop even further over the next 10 years, according to the State Department of Finance, to just over 5 million students, a decline of nearly 20% since the peak in the early 2000s.

Closing under-enrolled, half-empty schools is an obvious way for school districts to save money, but it's often low-income and Black communities that are the most affected by school closures, research shows.

That's partly because those neighborhoods have seen some of the greatest declines in enrollment, but some see it as part of a long history of disinvestment in Black students' education.

California Teachers Association also opposes school closures in nearly all cases.

David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, says that, "Closing schools is the last thing we should be doing.

Schools are a safety net in so many communities.

These schools have a whole ecosystem, a whole history in a community.

Disrupting that is a setback that is hard to undo."

The school closures have allowed districts to invest in new merged schools, modernizing campuses and adding resources.

Meanwhile, the state education budget may dip in the coming years due to a shaky economy.

Governor Gavin Newsom largely protected schools from budget cuts this year, but there's no guarantee that will continue next year.

With CalMatters, I'm Carolyn Jones.