Total enrollment in nonpublic schools has increased over the past three years according to recently released data from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), with pre-kindergarten and elementary classrooms seeing the largest increase.
While nonpublic enrollment was declining prior to the 2019-2020 school year and the 2020-2021 school year, it has increased by approximately 1,000 students each year between then and the 2023-2024 school year, the last year for which data is available.
Overall, nonpublic enrollment increased by 1.2 percent between the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, 2.4 percent between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, and 1.1 percent between the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.
The majority of this increase comes from pre-kindergarten enrollment. Between the 2020-2021 school year and the 2023-2024 school year, pre-kindergarten enrollment has grown by 1,430 students, or 40.1 percent. Between the 2019-2020 and 2021 school years, nonpublic pre-kindergarten also saw the largest drop in enrollment numbers.
Most grades saw declined enrollment between those years, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of schools.
Nonpublic enrollment in elementary grades also increased during that time period, although at significantly lower rates.
Enrollment trends in higher grades were more mixed. The number of enrolled nonpublic twelfth grade students saw the largest decline between the 2020-2021 school year and the 2023-2024 school year, declining by 126 students, or two percent.
Across the same time period, total enrollment in the state’s public schools fell. Between the 2019-2020 school year and the 2023-2024 school year, total enrollment dropped by over 15,000.
Total enrollment saw the largest decline in the past ten years following the 2019-2020 school year, when the COVID-19 pandemic first affected the state.
Data collected by CSDE shows that the post-COVID-19 decline in enrollment is also accompanied by declining school performance for a majority of schools.
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