Private-school choice advocates, particularly in red states, have a lot to be excited about right now. Since 2020, more than two dozen states have either expanded or created state-level choice programs, which means that 18 states now have choice programs that are either universal or near universal and 27 have already elected to participate in the new federal scholarship tax credit, which will take effect in 2027. Taken together, these policy developments have created an unprecedented opportunity to tap into the demand for and increase access to a private school education, particularly among families who previously were unable to afford one. The question we face now is: How do we ensure that the families that want a good private or parochial school for their children can find one?
Until now, much national attention has focused on creating new schools. Venture philanthropies like the Drexel and VELA funds are both primarily (though not exclusively) focused on seeding growth among new schools, scaling existing schools and networks, or investing in low-cost innovation. This is important work, and over the long run the new school start-ups they support will add importantly to the supply of places for students to learn. But to ramp up quickly enough to meet today’s fast-rising demand, seeding and scaling growth should be two elements of a three-tiered effort to boost supply. Those tiers should include a coordinated push to fill the excess capacity in already existing schools; an investment strategy aimed at helping thriving existing schools and networks grow (i.e. scale); along with investments in new-school start-up and innovation to seed new schools and networks, particularly in areas where limited supply exists.
For those looking to ramp up quickly, we must acknowledge that the first tier provides the best and most cost-effective way to grow private schools quickly.
The fact is that excess private school capacity exists in communities all over the country, most heavily concentrated in the Catholic sector. For more than two decades, overall Catholic school enrollment, particularly urban Catholic school enrollment, has shrunk. A number of internal and external factors have contributed to the decline, including a dramatic increase in tuition-free competition from the charter school sector; an internal shift in staffing structure from one that relied heavily on religious men and women to one that required a far greater number of lay (and salaried) faculty, staff, and leadership; and a policy and philanthropic environment that has, for decades, funneled billions to seed growth and operations in the district and charter sectors, while the private and parochial school sectors were largely left out.
In short, the combination of internal financial challenges combined with an investment strategy that starved parochial schools while ramping up investments in competitors has constrained Catholic school enrollment across the country.
While recent private school choice policy victories haven’t fully leveled the fiscal playing field (parents choosing private schools will still get a fraction of the funds that public schools receive), they are an important step towards allowing private schools to compete on the same terms as their district and charter counterparts. If we add to that intentional investments in Tier 1 and 2 enrollment and capacity-building support, many communities will be able to quickly increase overall private school enrollment, which is critical to demonstrating the demand that does exist for more options.
To understand what’s possible, it’s worth looking more closely at a state that is a trailblazer in expanding access to private schools: Florida.
In August 2022, Florida’s Step Up For Students surveyed more than 2,000 private schools and found that participating schools were operating at 79 percent of capacity, with room to add another 84,442 students. Between 2021 and 2024, thanks to a combination of targeted philanthropic support, local efforts to attract more families, and strong local leadership, much of that existing capacity has been filled. Specifically, while the overall population of school-aged children (ages 5–17) increased by 4 percent between 2021 and 2024, private school enrollment increased by nearly 20 percent (more than 80,000 students). And these gains were driven largely by intentional efforts to fill vacant Catholic school seats.
Catholic dioceses across Florida invested heavily in family outreach. The Diocese of Venice alone launched a marketing campaign that sent more than a million texts and emails, helping families understand that a private education was now in reach. The Archdiocese of Miami invested in both strengthening existing academic programs and launching new dual-language programs, classical programs, and programs aimed directly at supporting students with special needs. They also expanded capacity by re-opening four schools that had recently closed.
These efforts paid off and helped drive a 19 percent increase in Florida Catholic school enrollment between 2022 and 2025. Jim Rigg, Secretary of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Miami said, “at this point, there are areas of South Florida where there are simply no open seats in a Catholic school.”
Florida isn’t alone. Texas recently passed the largest Education Savings Account program in the nation, and the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops worked quickly to ramp up Tier 1 enrollment and parent outreach support to Catholic schools across the state with the goal of increasing their enrollment by at least 20,000. Early evidence suggests that this targeted outreach and support is having an impact. As the new school year began, the Archdiocese of Dallas has projected it will add roughly 2,500 new students using Texas Education Freedom Accounts to attend Dallas Catholic schools in 2026–27. The Diocese of Beaumont projects a 15 percent overall increase in enrollment, and Corpus Christi estimates that enrollment will increase by 8 percent.
These early examples suggest how existing schools, supported by organized outreach and practical assistance, can respond quickly when new public funding makes tuition affordable. And the good news is that, unlike new school startups, growth in existing schools requires relatively modest, time-limited investments that focus on infrastructure improvement, systems development and support, and targeted outreach and culture building.
So if we want the supply of places in private schools to keep pace with the new opportunities, we need a national strategy that arms existing under-enrolled schools with the strategic investment and targeted technical assistance they need. And we need to understand that that’s far less costly than starting schools from scratch. There’s no land acquisition. There are no complex leases to negotiate. There’s little or no new bricks-and-mortar required, just some retrofitting and modernizing work that can be done relatively quickly.
Of course, investment in filling existing seats doesn’t preclude the need to start new schools in targeted markets. But if the aim is to make choice real for more families now, the first question in every state should be simpler: Where are the good schools with room to grow, and what will it take to help them find the families newly empowered to choose them—and vice versa?
