Charted: Virginia's private school enrollment surge
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Enrollment in Virginia public schools has seen a dramatic decline since the onset of the pandemic, and new census data suggests a shift from public to private school has driven some of the drop.
By the numbers: Statewide 15.7% of Virginia students attended private school in 2022, compared with 14.4% in 2019.
- That translates into nearly 17,500 more students
- Metro Richmond private school enrollment also jumped post-COVID, from 13.3% in 2019 to 13.5% in 2022.
Why it matters: Virginia's public school enrollment is projected to continue shrinking through the end of the decade, and at a rate faster than initially expected.
Zoom in: Home schooling has also surged in Virginia.
- Virginia had 53,522 students enrolled in homeschool last year — a 40% increase from the 2019 count, according to VDOE data.
Zoom out: Nationwide, the share of students enrolled in private school rose 11.1% between 2019 and 2022.
- Nearly every state and D.C. saw an increase in private school enrollment since before the pandemic.
Of note: Officials have pointed to the state's declining birth rates and stagnant population growth for the public school enrollment drops.