Across the U.S., urban school districts are losing students and shuttering schools. In Detroit, some 35,000 students have left the city schools in less than a decade, and the city will close 34 schools and reassign more than 10,000 students in 2006. However, the trend is not limited to Rust Belt cities like Detroit, although their problems tend to be more dramatic. Population shifts, steep housing costs, open-enrollment policies, and competition from charter schools are reshaping city school districts. In addition to Detroit--which one education expert described as being in a "death spiral"--districts in Akron, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oakland, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; St. Louis, Missouri; and Seattle, Washington, are contending with enrollment losses. Fewer students means less state aid to spend, even though some expenses remain fixed. In this article, the author discusses the declining enrollment numbers in urban districts around the nation, and presents examples from these districts that show the extent of the challenges school leaders are facing.