Private School Enrollments Up in Surprising Areas

 This Boston Globe article explored how more parents are sending their children to private schools in the Greater Boston area—data that is surprising given the geographic location.

According to the article, 16 percent of Cambridge school-age students went to a private school in 2014, whereas last year 23 percent did. When two other nearby towns—Brookline and Newton—were included in the enrollment analysis, more than 20 percent of K-12 students were found to be attending private schools over public ones.

The Cato Institute has been tracking the increase in private schooling enrollment over the past several years, finding a 46 percent rise between 2022 and 2024. Much of this growth is occurring in states with generous private school choice programs that enable education funding to follow students to their preferred school or alternative learning model. Florida, for example, has had various school choice programs for years. It saw its private school enrollment increase by nearly 12 percent between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 school years. These data, which are the most recently reported by the state, don’t include 2023–24 enrollment trends, when Florida’s school choice programs became universal, expanding to include eligibility for every K-12 student. When last year’s enrollment numbers are in, it’s likely that private school enrollment numbers will be even higher in Florida.

What the Globe’s analysis reveals is that interest in private education is growing even in states that have zero private school choice programs.

Parents everywhere want new and different options, which is why low-cost private schools, microschools, and homeschooling collaboratives.

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Wayne Creed

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