The number of students enrolled in K-12 U.S. private schools during the 2021-22 school year was about 4.7 million; there were also about 4.7 million private school students in the 2019-20 academic year, which coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that same time period, the number of K-12 private schools decreased by 3 percent, from about 30,500 in 2019-20 to 29,700 in 2021-22, according to data released this month by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).