Pandemic boosted private school enrollment, but the boom is officially over

Yahoo

28-03-2025

(Stock photo via Getty Images)
Private school enrollment in Nevada has dipped for the first time in four years, according to updated data released by the Nevada Department of Education.
The current academic year's 1.61% dip in enrollment follows one year of modest 1.83% growth and two years of more significant 7% growth, which mirrored a nationwide trend of parents opting for private schools because they were better able to reopen physical classrooms and adapt to the COVID-19 restrictions.
In the six years preceding the start of the pandemic, private school enrollment only recorded one year of enrollment growth. The other five years, enrollment remained flat or dipped.
As of October, 22,442 students were enrolled in private schools in Nevada — 368 students fewer than the prior year.
The Nevada DOE compiles a separate report on K-12 enrollment within public schools. When data from the reports are combined, private school students make up 4.4% of students enrolled in Nevada schools. (The state does not aggregate the number of homeschooled students statewide.)
The total number of private school students remains higher than pre-pandemic. In October 2019, there were 19,325 students enrolled.
Last year, the Nevada DOE noted the modest 1.83% increase 'might indicate a leveling off' of private school enrollment.
This year's report, dated January 2025 but only recently released by the department, does not ponder potential reasons for the dip. The report also does not provide disaggregated data showing enrollment at each of the 131 private schools in the state.
The report does note that most grade levels saw a decrease in enrollment. Only fourth, eighth, seventh and ninth grade level totals increased.
When enrollment data is looked at by county, Washoe saw the biggest decline in private school enrollment — 10.7% or 339 students. One school, St. Nicholas Orthodox Academy in Reno, permanently closed its doors after the 2023-24 academic year, but it enrolled fewer than a dozen students, so its closure does not account for the drop.
The Nevada DOE, through its public information officer, said it had no data or additional information regarding the overall drop in Washoe County.
Washoe County now has 3,402 students enrolled in private schools.
In Clark County, private school enrollment dropped by 76 students, or less than half a percent of its total private school enrollment. Clark County now has 17,869 students enrolled in private schools.
Two private institutions in Las Vegas — St. Anne's Catholic School and Spring Valley Christian School — shuttered after the 2023-24 academic year.
When it announced its closure in April 2024, St. Anne's cited 'continued diminishing enrollment and tremendous financial challenges,' according to KLAS. The school also blamed a 60% enrollment decline over a decade and the 2019 scaling back of funding to the state's voucher program, known as Opportunity Scholarships.
St. Anne's had been open for 70 years. One school leader told the Las Vegas Sun enrollment at the school began sliding in 2007 when Bishop Gorman High School moved from a property adjacent to St. Anne's to its current Summerlin complex.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo held a press conference at St. Anne's in 2023 to talk about his education agenda, which included massive expansion of Opportunity Scholarships. Democrats, who control both chambers of the state legislature, have drawn a hard line on the issue and have said they are not open to expanding the program, which was established a decade ago when Republicans were in charge of the Legislature and governorship.
Advocates of school voucher programs blamed Democrats for St. Anne's closure.
In Nevada, there are two classifications of private schools: exempt, which means the school is affiliated with a religious institution, and non-exempt, meaning it is not affiliated with a religious institution.
The majority of private schools are exempt.
Nevada requires secular schools to report the number of full- or part-time teachers and their qualifications. According to the annual report, of the 606 teachers at those private schools: 266 are licensed by the State of Nevada, 77 are licensed by another state, 21 have a master's degree plus 1 year of experience, and 28 have a bachelor's degree plus 3 years of experience.
Religious-affiliated schools are required to report the number of full- or part-time teachers but not their qualifications. According to the report, there are 1,371 teachers in those schools.