What the Department of Education has to say about Private Schools

From the Dept of Education website: http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/choice/schools/onpefacts.html

Parents have a fundamental right to guide the upbringing of their children, and government has an obligation to respect that right. The nonpublic school community in the United States provides parents with important options for the education of their children. Faith-based and nonsectarian private schools, along with a growing number of children who are homeschooled, account for approximately 13 percent of the school-age population in grades K-12.

The first schools in the U.S. were private schools and currently account for about 24 percent of all elementary and secondary schools, 11 percent of all students and 12 percent of all full-time teachers. Seventy-six percent of private schools have a religious affiliation, while the remaining 24 percent are nonsectarian.1 A defining characteristic of private schools is choice as families may freely choose private education and private schools generally have the freedom to choose which students to enroll. Private schools vary widely, though their governance structures and enrollment choices are similar features that all private schools share.