Live Online Policy Forum 

# Private Schooling and COVID-19: How Has the Sector Fared? 

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/9d81905e-8674-4afb-8a21-d2c689157200/5cd48416-3254-4037-9b01-54f6c84f5542/main.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5e2e15a046f4465f31c89d8c/1619546493402-ab4e85d6c1514e9122399fabcd368324.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#WWFSchool](https://x.com/hashtag/WWFSchool). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

April 27, 2021 12 - 1 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

![Donna Orem cropped picture](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-04/donna-orem%20cropped.jpg?itok=VB94NkI9) 

Donna Orem 

President, National Association of Independent Schools

![Sister Dale McDonald cropped pic](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-04/sister-dale-mcdonald%20Cropped.jpg?itok=vys2uvwK) 

Sister Dale McDonald 

Director of Public Policy, National Catholic Educational Association

![Lynn E. Swaner](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-04/lynn-swaner%20Cropped.jpg?itok=Hx2TfN6l) 

Lynn E. Swaner 

Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Association of Christian Schools International

[ 

](http://twitter.com/LynnSwaner1) 

[![Neal McCluskey Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-11/mccluskey-cropped.jpg?itok=I-QI0yJD)](/people/neal-mccluskey) 

[Neal McCluskey](/people/neal-mccluskey)

Former Director, Center for Educational Freedom, Cato Institute

When the country went on lockdown in March 2020, schools of all types were forced to close their doors, while families, businesses, and others braced for a major economic hit. This combination seemed especially dangerous for private schools, which, unlike public schools, rely on paying families and other voluntary financial support. Since the first announcement of a private school closing permanently due to the pandemic, Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom has monitored private schooling’s condition. In this forum, we’ll give our assessment of the health of private K–12 education, and speakers representing three major parts of the private schooling spectrum will discuss how their institutions have fared and what the future holds.

## Additional Resources

- [Christian Schools and COVID-19: 2020–2021 School Year Profile](https://www.acsi.org/docs/default-source/website-publishing/research/acsi-covid-survey-report-december-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=cf12f759_8) by Lynn E. Swaner and Matthew H. Lee
- [Christian Schools and COVID-19: Reopening Plans and Fall 2020 Outlook](https://www.acsi.org/docs/default-source/website-publishing/research/follow-up-covid-19-survey-reporta26cc32801b340aab245bc38414693e8.pdf?sfvrsn=751cf157_4) by Lynn E. Swaner and Charlotte Marshall Powell
- [Christian Schools and COVID-19: Responding Nimbly, Facing the Future](https://www.acsi.org/docs/default-source/website-publishing/research/acsi-covid-19-survey-report-final.pdf?sfvrsn=b4b7bf3d_2) by Lynn E. Swaner and Charlotte Marshall Powell
- [COVID-19 Permanent Private School Closures](https://www.cato.org/covid-19-permanent-private-closures)

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).