Private and Christian School Enrollment Is Surging After COVID
Inside the Great Shift Reshaping K–12 Education and What It Means for Christian Schools
When COVID-19 disrupted American education in 2020, many assumed the changes would be temporary.
Instead, something deeper has taken root. In the five years since the pandemic, families across the U.S. have re-evaluated their educational choices—and an increasing number have moved toward private and Christian schools.
Today, private school education is growing at its fastest pace in decades.
In this first post of a three-part series, we'll explore the enrollment shift underway and what the latest data tells us about where education is headed.
Public School Enrollment Is Declining
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that public school enrollment fell by 2.4% between fall 2019 and fall 2023—a loss of more than 1.2 million students.
This marks one of the sharpest multi-year declines in public education history outside of major demographic collapses. It also signals a break from the previous decade (2010–2019), when private school enrollment declined by about 1.8%, reflecting a long period of flat or slightly negative growth.
Parents' choices during COVID-19—initially driven by pandemic-related concerns—have evolved into long-term educational realignments that continue to reshape the landscape.
Private School Enrollment Is Rising
In contrast to public sector declines, private schools have experienced consistent growth every year since 2019:
+3.4% enrollment growth from 2019 to 2020
+5.9% growth from 2020 to 2021
+1.8% growth from 2021 to 2022
Before COVID, private school enrollment had remained relatively flat for over a decade, fluctuating by less than 1% annually. Now, private schools are capturing a larger share of the nation's K–12 students.
This shift is historic. For the first time in recent memory, private schools aren't simply retaining their market share—they’re expanding it. Certainly, school choice programs expanding across the country are making an impact here as well. New and broadened voucher programs, scholarships, and Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) have dramatically widened access to private and Christian education—especially for low or middle-income families who may not have previously considered it possible.
Christian Schools Are Leading the Way
Among private schools, Christian schools—especially non-Catholic Protestant schools—are experiencing the sharpest growth.
According to NCES data, enrollment in "other religious" schools (largely Protestant and Evangelical) rose from 1.7 million to 2.0 million students between 2011 and 2021.
ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) reports that Christian school enrollment is up 35% since 2019.
Many Christian academies report record applications, new campuses, and growing waitlists for the first time in decades.
Meanwhile, Catholic schools—while historically dominant in private education—saw only a modest post-pandemic rebound and remain below their 2010 enrollment levels.
What This Means for Christian Education
The great post-pandemic enrollment shift signals more than just numbers:
Parents are rethinking education’s purpose.
Families are seeking not just academic quality, but potentially biblically-based and pragmatic school environments.
Christian schools are positioned for influence and growth—if they steward a new population of families in productive ways.
In many ways, COVID simply accelerated deeper parental concerns already simmering: curriculum controversies, safety, social-emotional health, and the desire for meaningful formation rooted in a biblical worldview.
Now, families are acting on those convictions—and Christian schools have a rare opportunity to both address and deliver on this new level of interest.
Coming Next:
In Part 2, we'll dive deeper into what’s driving families to make these moves—exploring motivations from pandemic responses to school choice policies to deeper questions about biblical values and formation.
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