Fast Facts: Closed schools (619)

Closed schools

Question:
How many public schools in the United States have closed?

Response:

In 2019–20, there were 1,130 school closures, including 827 regular schools, 129 special education schools, 22 vocational schools, and 152 alternative schools.

Number and enrollment of public elementary and secondary schools that have closed, by school level, type, and charter status: 2010–11 through 2019–20
School level, type, and charter status	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20
Total, all schools	1,741	1,692	1,394	1,644	1,336	1,070	1,068	1,310	1,122	1,130
School type
Regular	1,352	1,274	986	1,124	974	823	709	889	876	827
Special education	72	81	82	87	61	30	66	217	42	129
Vocational	6	12	68	18	23	14	9	13	24	22
Alternative¹	311	325	258	415	278	203	284	191	180	152
School level and type
Prekindergarten	53	50	33	47	27	22	31	74	59	76
Regular	45	43	28	39	23	19	24	58	55	63
Special education	6	6	5	5	3	3	7	14	4	13
Vocational	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alternative¹	2	1	0	3	1	0	0	2	0	0
Elementary	759	725	587	601	482	450	390	492	410	457
Regular	727	698	561	554	449	422	352	400	394	438
Special education	12	9	12	18	16	6	12	79	7	13
Vocational	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alternative¹	20	18	13	28	17	22	26	13	9	6
Middle	261	277	185	240	248	192	184	217	194	175
Regular	232	236	158	212	229	174	155	179	177	155
Special education	1	3	1	9	3	3	5	24	3	7
Vocational	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
Alternative¹	28	38	25	19	15	15	24	14	11	13
Secondary and high	428	458	443	497	437	317	343	387	315	244
Regular	204	223	180	211	213	167	130	199	162	117
Special education	26	20	28	20	14	11	11	53	12	20
Vocational	5	11	64	6	21	11	7	9	17	10
Alternative¹	193	204	171	260	189	128	195	126	124	97
Other, ungraded, and not applicable/not reported	240	182	146	259	142	89	120	140	144	178
Regular	144	74	59	108	60	41	48	53	88	54
Special education	27	43	36	35	25	7	31	47	16	76
Vocational	1	1	2	11	1	3	2	4	4	12
Alternative¹	68	64	49	105	56	38	39	36	36	36
All charter schools²	157	185	153	232	206	236	181	247	215	235
Prior year enrollment of schools that have closed
Total, enrollment	321,246	300,764	240,704	269,615	211,472	194,653	185,714	266,777	231,206	214,278

¹ Includes schools that provide nontraditional education, address needs of students that typically cannot be met in regular schools, serve as adjuncts to regular schools, or fall outside the categories of regular, special education, or vocational education.
² Charter schools are also included under the school level and type categories, as appropriate.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This table indicates the school year by which the school no longer operated (it closed between that school year and the prior school year). The closure of a school does not necessarily mean that a building is no longer used for educational purposes. A single school may share a building with another school, or one school may be housed in several buildings. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (forthcoming). Table 216.95. Number and enrollment of public elementary and secondary schools that have closed, by school level, type, and charter status: 2010–11 through 2019–20 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.

Related Tables and Figures: (Listed by Release Date)

Other Resources: (Listed by Release Date)

2022, Common Core of Data (CCD): These tables present the school, enrollment, and teacher counts reported at the school level aggregated by various school characteristics including state, district, metro-area, city, charter status, and operational status.