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TUCSON - Arizona public schools are facing some of their toughest times right now.

Budget cuts, school closures, and teacher layoffs are just a few of the issues pushing some parents to take a second look at their children's education.

Now enrollment numbers for some private and charter schools are giving the public schools a run for their money is this extremely competitive time in Arizona's education.

"With my older son being in a TUSD school right now, I'm frustrated," said parent Karen Crandall.

Crandall has raised her kids in the charter school La Paloma Academy. She has one still there, but now her oldest is in public high school.

"I felt that charter schools were a better alternative for us," she said.

Superintendent at La Paloma Academy, Raena Janes, said that is a decision they are seeing a lot of parents take.

"We are at capacity," said Janes.

There are nearly 700 students at La Paloma's central campus and more than 800 at their Lakeside campus. And Janes said there are about 200 students still on a waiting list.

"We offer full day kindergarten which a lot of schools don't," Janes said.

But David Scott at the Tucson Unified School District said while their enrollment is down, it is not because of recent cuts or closures.

"This is a trend that's been going on for 3 years and we've just closed schools this year...so it's not school closures," Scott said.

But Scott does expect the decline to continue into the next few years. So he said the district is working towards new and improved programs and things that will set them apart from the others.

"We are all competing for a pool of students but that pool of students is shrinking," he said.

Meanwhile, private school Salpointe Catholic High said they have more transfer students this year, and in this economic climate, they are keeping class sizes, even sprucing the place up.

"We haven't had to raise class size. None of our programs have been cut, so in that sense we're holding our own so we're really grateful for that," said Mike Urbanski, the Associate Head of School.

However, Urbanski said they are seeing an increase in students applying for financial aid to pay for their tuition.