All schools will likely suffer in the COVID-19 recession. But as recently discussed, private schools as a whole are likely to suffer worse consequences than public: not just cutbacks, death.

Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom has begun tracking private schools that are going out of business—not just temporarily closing their buildings—at least in part due to COVID-19. “At least in part” because many private schools perennially get by on shoestring budgets as they try to compete with “free” public schools. That means they are often in precarious financial situations. And, of course, some private schools are not all that good, have been rocked by clergy scandals, are facing demographic changes—many things affect any given school. In other words, the COVID-19 recession may just be the final nail in a school’s coffin. But it is a huge nail driven by a jackhammer.

All the schools below have announced upcoming permanent closure at least somewhat driven by COVID-19 financial impacts:

We will update this list in a blog post every Friday for the foreseeable future, but if it gets long enough we will likely move it to a more user‐​friendly, searchable form. You can contact CEF director Neal McCluskey if you need more current numbers, if you know of permanent closures not on the list, or if you believe schools have been listed by mistake. We also welcome suggestions for information to improve the list.