Private Schools

BARRIERS TO ENTRY
High barriers to entry mean that new companies struggle to enter an industry, while low barriers mean it is easy for new companies to enter an industry.

CAPITAL INTENSITY
Compares the amount of money spent on capital (plant, machinery and equipment) with that spent on labor.
IBISWorld uses the ratio of depreciation to wages as a proxy for capital intensity. High capital intensity is more than $ 0.333 of capital to $ 1 of labor; medium is $ 0.125 to $ 0.333 of capital to $ 1 of labor; low is less than $ 0.125 of capital for every $ 1 of labor.

CONSTANT PRICES
The dollar figures in the Key Statistics table, including forecasts, are adjusted for inflation using the current year (i.e. year published) as the base year. This removes the impact of changes in the purchasing power of the dollar, leaving only the "real" growth or decline in industry metrics. The inflation adjustments in IBISWorld’s reports are made using the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ implicit GDP price deflator.

DOMESTIC DEMAND
Spending on industry goods and services within the United States, regardless of their country of origin. It is derived by adding imports to industry revenue, and then subtracting exports.

CHARTER SCHOOL
An independent public school designed by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs and others who want to provide quality education tailored to student need.

MAGNET SCHOOL
A school that focuses on a particular discipline, such as science, mathematics, arts or computer science. It is designed to recruit students from other parts of the school district.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
A law signed into effect by President Bush in 2002 setting performance guidelines for all schools' students and stipulating what must be included in accountability reports to parents.

NONSECTARIAN
A school that is not affiliated with any particular religion or belief.

PAROCHIAL SCHOOL
A primary or secondary school supported by a religious organization.

Private schools endure a high degree of competition from charter schools, which are publicly funded but are organized by teachers, parents and community leaders. Charter schools also offer similar amenities to private schools, such as small class sizes. However, due to improving household finances, more parents are willing to send their kids to private schools. Specifically, the number of households earning more than $100,000 has increased an annualized 1.8% over the five years to 2022, indicating that a greater number of parents can afford private school tuition. Moreover, the increasing popularity of school choice, which enables US parents to send their children to the schools that best fit them, has also contributed to the growth in private school demand. However, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has disrupted the industry's operations in 2020 as schools were required to close in early 2020 to curb the spread of the virus. However, demand for private schools increased as more parents enroll their kids in private schools due to small class sizes and a quicker shift to remote learning, supporting industry profitability.