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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

Have US private schools increased their share of overall enrollment in recent decades?

By Christopher Hutton
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NO

Overall private school enrollment has declined over the past two decades, falling from 6 million in 1999 to 5.7 million in 2017. In 1999, private schools enrolled 11% of students, falling to 10% in 2017.

The decline was driven by declining enrollment in Catholic schools, which fell from 2.7 million to 2.1 million. Enrollment in other religious schools was steady, while enrollment in non-religious schools climbed to 1.4 million from 1.2 million.

A private-school software vendor said applications for private schools in July 2020 were up 131% from the year before, perhaps driven by uncertainty about public school plans to manage coronavirus risks in the upcoming year. But the outlook remains unclear for the full school year. "We could be seeing anything from disaster to boom‐​time for private schools," an education expert at the Cato Institute wrote in early September.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Department of Education: Private school enrollment
Net Assets: Rollercoaster enrollment trends during COVID-19
Cato Institute: COVID winners or losers?
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Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.