CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Cedar Rapids Community School District has to find a way to close a more than $11 million budget gap .

Five million of that is from a drop in enrollment.

The drop isn’t exactly new.

Numbers have been dropping for years, but this school year they dropped much more significantly.

The COVID-19 pandemic aside, this year saw the steepest drop.

The biggest shift is at the middle school ages.

One middle school, Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy, lost a net of 80 students this year.

Taft Middle School lost 75.

Franklin Middle School lost 70.

This coincides with the new public charter school CR Prep opening.

All told, CR Prep took nearly 200 students from Cedar Rapids’ schools.

Other than middle schoolers the district is seeing a drop in kin

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