The vast majority of K-12 students who are enrolled in schools in the U.S. attend public schools, and that percentage has shifted very little, from 92% to 91%, in the decade between 2011-12 and 2021-22. The remaining 9% of students attended private schools in 2021-22.

But the education landscape is changing, and more and more states are using public funds to implement or expand private education voucher programs, with the possibility of increased private school enrollment and significantly decreased resources available for public schools.

For this reason, Public Funds Public Schools has created an interactive research tool designed to inform and assist advocates in the fight against vouchers. The tool provides 2021-22 data on the numbers, geographical location (city, suburb, rural), and composition (race, income) of public and private school student populations in the states. It also shows the percentage of students attending religious schools and racially segregated schools.

Additionally, the tool shows trends in enrollment from 2011-12 through 2021-22, the most recent year in which data is available from the National Center for Education Statistics. And it provides county level information on public and private school enrollments. The data represents all private school students, not only those who attended with publicly funded vouchers. But the information presented can demonstrate how student enrollments may change when states implement or expand voucher programs and also shine a light on the racial and economic inequities that are exacerbated by vouchers.

“These interactive views offer valuable insights about enrollments in public and private schools across the country and highlight important trends over time” said Mary McKillip, Senior Researcher at Education Law Center, which directs the PFPS campaign. “But they also underscore the critical need for robust collection of data specifically on voucher users, which is not collected at the national level.”

“The state data clearly shows that private schools are often highly segregated by race and socioeconomic status,” said Nicole Ciullo, Associate Director of Policy and Development at ELC. “When public money is being used to fund private education through voucher programs, it’s important to know what that money is paying to support.”

Download the interactive data views from the PFPS website for use in educational and advocacy campaigns.

Please note: the views will be updated to include information from the 2023-2024 school year once data is available.