Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2022 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 216.95. Number and enrollment of public elementary and secondary schools that have closed, by school level, type, and charter status: School years 2010-11 through 2021-22
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 2020-21 2021-22
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
  Number of schools that closed
     Total, all schools 1,741 1,692 1,394 1,644 1,336 1,070 1,068 1,310 1,122 1,130 865 755
School type                        
  Regular 1,352 1,274 986 1,124 974 823 709 889 876 827 684 571
  Special education 72 81 82 87 61 30 66 217 42 129 49 71
  Vocational 6 12 68 18 23 14 9 13 24 22 11 7
  Alternative1 311 325 258 415 278 203 284 191 180 152 121 106

School level and type
                       
  Prekindergarten 53 50 33 47 27 22 31 74 59 76 45 35
    Regular 45 43 28 39 23 19 24 58 55 63 41 30
    Special education 6 6 5 5 3 3 7 14 4 13 4 4
    Vocational 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 2 1 0 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1

  Elementary
759 725 587 601 482 450 390 492 410 457 362 324
    Regular 727 698 561 554 449 422 352 400 394 438 349 315
    Special education 12 9 12 18 16 6 12 79 7 13 9 4
    Vocational 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 20 18 13 28 17 22 26 13 9 6 4 5

  Middle
261 277 185 240 248 192 184 217 194 175 149 133
    Regular 232 236 158 212 229 174 155 179 177 155 142 124
    Special education 1 3 1 9 3 3 5 24 3 7 1 0
    Vocational 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
    Alternative1 28 38 25 19 15 15 24 14 11 13 6 9

  Secondary and high
428 458 443 497 437 317 343 387 315 244 248 171
    Regular 204 223 180 211 213 167 130 199 162 117 132 84
    Special education 26 20 28 20 14 11 11 53 12 20 17 15
    Vocational 5 11 64 6 21 11 7 9 17 10 10 7
    Alternative1 193 204 171 260 189 128 195 126 124 97 89 65

  Other, ungraded, and not applicable/not
     reported
240 182 146 259 142 89 120 140 144 178 61 92
    Regular 144 74 59 108 60 41 48 53 88 54 20 18
    Special education 27 43 36 35 25 7 31 47 16 76 18 48
    Vocational 1 1 2 11 1 3 2 4 4 12 1 0
    Alternative1 68 64 49 105 56 38 39 36 36 36 22 26

All charter schools2
157 185 153 232 206 236 181 247 215 235 179 89
  Prior year enrollment of schools that have closed
     Total, enrollment 321,246 300,764 240,704 269,615 211,472 194,653 185,714 266,777 231,206 214,278 165,474 167,575
School type                        
  Regular 303,604 282,993 224,884 249,350 197,868 183,032 174,077 251,765 223,165 208,464 159,620 164,644
  Special education 1,933 3,909 1,168 4,170 2,654 917 1,566 3,953 1,178 1,654 1,619 349
  Vocational 46 28 1,164 1,578 1,858 650 249 477 911 80 0 193
  Alternative1 15,663 13,834 13,488 14,517 9,092 10,054 9,822 10,582 5,952 4,080 4,235 2,389

School level and type
                       
  Prekindergarten 4,392 4,268 2,556 3,556 2,487 788 3,383 5,821 2,229 4,393 2,419 2,780
    Regular 4,101 4,220 2,544 3,499 2,396 788 3,252 4,444 2,225 4,029 1,793 2,599
    Special education 270 28 12 56 91 0 131 626 4 364 626 34
    Vocational 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 21 20 0 1 0 0 0 751 0 0 0 147

  Elementary
174,635 162,855 131,677 145,541 93,489 100,511 86,681 109,151 101,641 114,150 84,991 84,787
    Regular 173,264 161,463 130,684 142,333 91,873 97,795 85,244 107,264 100,694 113,963 84,746 84,746
    Special education 325 977 155 1,157 772 258 410 1,066 336 145 89 38
    Vocational 0 0 472 308 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 1,046 415 366 1,743 844 2,458 1,027 821 611 42 156 3

  Middle
70,925 69,325 50,596 53,584 53,017 46,938 43,618 50,897 49,230 40,727 39,538 43,868
    Regular 69,980 67,892 49,031 52,607 52,022 45,887 42,721 49,717 49,150 40,195 39,347 43,804
    Special education 25 527 105 780 354 177 56 194 36 89 2 0
    Vocational 0 0 403 0 160 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 920 906 1,057 197 481 874 841 986 44 443 189 64

  Secondary and high
55,696 52,684 48,161 58,567 52,631 37,531 39,639 68,011 48,060 31,139 34,784 27,879
    Regular 45,124 42,186 38,702 46,144 43,939 31,999 32,438 60,320 41,543 27,802 30,783 26,339
    Special education 697 617 548 878 356 205 203 1,041 613 156 381 154
    Vocational 22 21 202 1,270 1,698 650 249 477 911 80 0 193
    Alternative1 9,853 9,860 8,709 10,275 6,638 4,677 6,749 6,173 4,993 3,101 3,620 1,193

  Other, ungraded, and not applicable/not
     reported
15,598 11,632 7,714 8,367 9,848 8,885 12,393 32,897 30,046 23,869 3,742 8,261
    Regular 11,135 7,232 3,923 4,767 7,638 6,563 10,422 30,020 29,553 22,475 2,951 7,156
    Special education 616 1,760 348 1,299 1,081 277 766 1,026 189 900 521 123
    Vocational 24 7 87 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    Alternative1 3,823 2,633 3,356 2,301 1,129 2,045 1,205 1,851 304 494 270 982

All charter schools2
26,208 31,074 27,921 36,997 34,067 41,697 36,856 93,549 64,859 59,009 31,997 16,197
1Includes 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.
2Charter 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.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 2010-11 through 2021-22. (This table was prepared November 2022.)

2022 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest