Enrollment in Schools in Seattle
The Seattle Times had a recent story on the uptick of private school enrollment in Seattle.
Census data released this month shows private-school enrollment for Seattle K-12 students hit an all-time high in 2023, estimated at 19,400 students. That represents one-quarter of the city’s total 77,200 K-12 students.
Among the nation’s 50 cities with the largest K-12 enrollment, Seattle ranked No. 2 for the share of kids in private schools last year. San Francisco was No. 1 with around 30% of K-12 students enrolled in private schools. Census data shows that nationally, 12.8% of K-12 students attended private school, so Seattle’s percentage is nearly double the national average.
It’s certainly not cheap to send a kid to private school in Seattle. According to the website Private School Review, average private-school tuition in Seattle is $20,977 for elementary schools and $23,708 for high schools, higher than the national average.
The increase in private-school attendance in 2023 may be the result of growing dissatisfaction with the public-school system. When I wrote about this topic in 2020, I quoted emails I had received from readers who had switched their kids to private school out of frustration, even though they would have preferred to support the public education system.
With the impending closure of some of the city’s schools, it is possible the share of kids in private schools will only increase.
I was really surprised, decades ago, when I learned of the stat that Seattle was about 25% enrollment in K-12 private schools. I seem to remember at some point that it was as high as 28%.
I also recall counseling parents to NOT spend that money on elementary school when SPS had so many good ones. Now? Well, with everything up in the air in SPS, what's a parent to think.
I can also see parents who have the means deciding to enroll their student in private schools until it's clear how things shake out.
That is especially true if the "well-resourced" idea doesn't plan out quickly which I don't think it can because of the continuing deficits. As well, I perceive that after elementaries, SPS may come for middle and high schools.
Lack of continuity will surely drive parents away.
Interesting news from reader Stuart. It appears that Summit Atlas High School, one of the few charter schools in Seattle, is seeing its enrollment dropping as well.
For 20-21, enrollment of grades 9 – 12 was 214. That’s the first year they had seniors.
For 23-24, it was 284, including a 9th grade class of 92 which is nearly double the senior number of 52. So in contrast to Sierra, this one could be increasing.
The class or 2024 shrank every year: 98 when they were in 9th, 72, 62, 52 when seniors. Presumably there are some new arrivals, so essentially, half the people who started 9th did not finish.
This is something I see in many charter high schools who like to brag about graduating their seniors. What was the size of the freshman class? Almost always you see a big difference in how many students they start with versus finish with.
You see the same numbers through the same years with the other Summit high school in Seattle which is Sierra. Meanwhile over in Olympia, where the third Summit school is, same thing.
They are steadily losing students and I wonder why.
I add that charter schools are just not popular in Washington State. Parents voted with their feet.
Comments
Heck, we used to be #4 in terms of private school market share of the 100 largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S. (San Fransico, New York City, Los Angeles WERE ahead of us). BUT I have EVERY confidence that we’ll get there; SPS’ anti-education and pro-chaos is a potent mix to drive results, especially when considering their intense hubris, incompetency, and non-disguised contempt they have for students and parents.
(When I testified before the legislature years ago, when I highlighted that fact, that was the one thing that made these bored representatives sit up and take notice: “wait, Seattle is that bad in the ranking?!? “ “Why, yes, sir”)
I tried to tell you all when they came for my kids, don’t be so smug, but you didn’t listen, and here we are. Because that’s the thing: if they are willing to throw one group of kids under the bus, it means they’re willing to throw kids under the bus. All parents should be united that that is never acceptable, yet in our experience you were all more than happy to cheer on the dismantling of a program vital to the well-being of my kids.
Maybe now you can take a moment and see that when the district is happy/willing/desirous/determined to go AGAINST one group of learners, going against multitudes of evidence-based research for best practices, you’ll see the connection that that means they are just as happy to come for your kids/other types of learners too. Oh, but hey, too late. At this point if I were you, I would move. It is too broken to fix, and pretty much everyone in the glass palace is far beyond performance remediation. Furthermore, Nobody, good or sane would ever want to be in this district, everybody can see it’s on fire, nobody rational, wants to catch a falling knife.
SPS reached the point of no return years ago. A statistic was the precipitous and large decline in the previously stable cohort survival rate from 5th grade to middle school, especially in the Eckstein middle school service district. And that was years ago. That was the harbinger that told us those who could were fleeing. Yes, I pointed it out to school district, and yes, they ignored it, but a few competent directors at the time were worried, but there was nothing they said they could do.
Capital was happily silo and just kept building ginormous schools for the students who wouldn’t show up because there was no education allowed to go on in the buildings. Oops.
VOTE NO
The truth is, schools will not close because the superintendent was INCAPABLE to have his INCOMPETENT staff to present a plan that made sense, that took into account the needs of students and centered their learning and growth. SPS screwed up big time but we get to say “We did it! We win!” NOBODY WINS.
Just Facts
Not that I don't believe Seattle and San Fran would have sky high private enrollments, but different stats rank cities differently. Part of it is separating out charter schools from traditional public schools but I think it must be more than that.