SALEM - Overall enrollment in Oregon's public schools dropped this fall for the first time in two decades, the State Department of Education said Wednesday.

School districts around the state reported 552,312 students showed up for class on Oct. 1 last year, a decrease of more than 1,700 students from the previous year, the department said.

State School Superintendent Susan Castillo blamed the dip on the state's financial turmoil that has deprived public schools of funds and caused larger teacher-student ratios in classrooms and shortened school years.

"The state's economic downturn and the instability of school funding has caused families to make a move," Castillo said in a statement. "Some have moved out of the state to look for work. Others have moved their students to private schools where uncertainty is not a factor."

The drop was the steepest in Oregon since 1982, when the state was mired in a previous recession.

The decline comes as schools are bracing for more problems; the state school budget could be cut by as much as $400 million if voters reject the Measure 30 tax increase on Feb. 3.

Portland, the states largest school district, also saw the steepest enrollment decline of roughly 3,000 students, according to the department's figures.

Across the state, the drop would have been sharper without growth in Oregon's hispanic population.

While minority student enrollment increased overall, the largest rise was in the Hispanic student population, which increased by 5,781 this year.

That follows an increase of 5,566 last year. Today, there are more than 70,000 Hispanic students in the state - more than double the number from a decade ago.