Private K-12 Schools
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 30,000 private K-12 schools in the US provide basic preparatory education for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Elementary schools typically include grades kindergarten through six. Secondary schools typically include grade seven through twelve. Combined schools offer elementary and secondary education. The vast majority of K-12 private schools are non-profit organizations and about 66% of them are religion-based.
Dependence on Skilled Staff
Private school families expect high quality education from qualified, experienced teachers.
Competition from Alternative Education
In addition to standard public schools (which are free), private schools face competition from a variety of alternative sources, including charter schools, magnet schools, and home schooling.
Industry size & Structure
The average private K-12 school operates out of a single location, employs 10-26 workers and generates over $1 million in annual revenue.
- The private K-12 school industry consists of over 30,000 schools that educate over 4.7 million students and employ about 481,000 teachers, according to the National Center for Education Statistics Private School Universe Survey.
- Although tuition can vary significantly, average tuition is about $9,200 for elementary schools, $15,420 for secondary schools, and $15,550 for combined schools.
- The vast majority of K-12 private schools are nonprofit organizations.
- Most private schools are small institutions. About 61% of private schools have less than 150 students; 21% have between 150 and 299 students; 10% have between 300 and 499 students; and 8% have 500 students or more.
Industry Forecast
Private K-12 Schools Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jan 11, 2025 - Private School Choice Expected to Continue Expanding In 2025
- Republican lawmakers in almost a dozen states are signaling that private school choice is among their top legislative priorities in 2025, according to Education Week. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia each had at least one program that supplies public funds for parents to spend on educational options outside of public schools in 2024, according to Education Week’s private school choice tracker. Twelve of those states make, or are on track to make, all of the state’s K-12 students eligible to apply for some combination of vouchers, education savings accounts, tax-credit scholarships, and direct tax credits.
- Public schools are relatively evenly distributed across urban, suburban, and rural areas while most charter and private school campuses are located in either cities or suburbs, according to Pew Research. Public schools are also likely to be larger. About 39% of public schools enroll 500 or more students, compared with 32% of charter schools and 8% of private schools. About 31% of public schools have fewer than 300 students while 44% of charter schools and 82% of private schools do.
- Kindergarten tuition at Iowa private schools increased between 21% and 24% since the implementation of the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program, according to study by Brown and Princeton universities. The ESA program allows families to create an account for their K-12 student to pay for private school tuition and associated costs. ESA accounts for the 2023-2024 school year were $7,635 — equal to the per-pupil funding total received by public K-12 schools — and will increase to $7,826 for the 2024-2025 school year. Researchers found that private school tuition increased significantly in Iowa following the implementation of the ESA program, while private school tuition in Nebraska, which passed a similar program into law in 2023 that will not be implemented until the 2024-25 school year, did not see the same increase.
- Private K-12 school industry employment has rebounded from pandemic-era lows and remained above pre-pandemic levels in late-2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Private K-12 school revenue is forecast to grow at a 4.01% compounded annual rate from 2024 to 2028, comparable to the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Sources of revenue for private schools include tuition, private grants, donations, fundraisers, and income from endowments.
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