Growing Sentiment for School Choice

• In a 1995 survey, almost six of every 10 parents with children in government schools said they would send them to private schools if they could afford to do so.² 
• An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in 1997 found that 94 percent of Americans want significant change in the public education system - and 69 percent want parents to have more control over their children's education.³ 

The public policy proposals most often put forward in response are: 

• Tuition vouchers -- government gives low-income parents tax-funded vouchers to help pay tuition at nongovernment schools. 
• Charter schools -- government fully funds a limited number of existing or new schools that are exempt from most regulations and free to design their own curricula. 
• Public school choice -- parents are allowed to choose their children's schools from existing government schools, either in or outside of their district. 
• Contracting out -- school districts contract with private companies for teaching, management or support services now provided by district employees. 

This program is not designed to solve all education problems for everyone everywhere. However, it could be part of the solution, possibly in addition to other kinds of school choice plans. It could provide the means for a significant number of elementary and secondary school students to leave government schools, giving critical relief to overburdened school districts, to parents who want a different kind of education for their children and to taxpayers straining under the high cost of government education. 

Of equal importance, the program speaks to concerns about possible unwanted government intervention in the operation of private schools and about the constitutionality of using government funds for religious schools. With tax credits, the money never becomes "government money"; instead taxpayers are able to keep their own money to use toward education. 
 

"The Tax Credits Program for School Choice would provide more money per pupil to the government schools." 

"The average nongovernment school costs less than half of the average government school."

"The 'cost' of all tax credits would be deducted from the school district budget where the taxpayer pays taxes."

 

TAXPAYER CHOICE. Using $1,000 per child to illustrate the general concept, the Tax Credits Program for School Choice would work as follows: 

• Taxpayers -- both individuals and businesses -- would receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit up to a maximum of $1,000 per child for money they spent on tuition expenses at nongovernment schools. 
• The credit also could be applied against gifts to charitable foundations set up to pay tuition for children from low-income families. 
• Taxpayers who homeschool their children would be eligible for a $1,000 per child tax credit without having to document any expenses. 
• The budget of the education district in which the child lives would be reduced by the amount of the credit. 

SELECTING THE AMOUNT OF THE CREDIT. This study uses a $1,000 tax credit for illustrative purposes because it seems to work well in various Pennsylvania school districts sampled by the author. However, the preferred tax credit amount might be more or less in other states, depending on current spending in government schools and current enrollment in nongovernment schools. (In departures within this study, a $1,200 tax credit is used in New York City and Washington, D.C., examples.) Choosing a limit well below the per pupil cost of government schools would: 

• Ensure that spending on students who remain in government schools would in most cases stay the same or increase. 
• Reduce the likelihood that nongovernment schools would raise tuition in response to the tax credit program. 

Is $1,000 enough to induce families to transfer their children to nongovernment schools? That amount would put a small dent in the $12,000 tuition charged by elite private schools. However, such expensive schools are in the minority. As Figure I shows, most nongovernment schools charge far less.⁷ 

• The average annual private elementary school tuition nationwide is less than $2,138. 
• With private secondary schools included, the average tuition is $3,116. 
• About 67 percent, more than 17,000 private elementary and secondary schools, charge $2,500 or less, and 19 percent charge less than $1,000. 

POTENTIAL USE OF THE CREDIT. Not all parents would choose to transfer their children from government schools to nongovernment schools. Many would be unable to afford it even with the tax credit. Others would not immediately find a nongovernment school that fit their children's needs. But the high percentage of parents with children in government schools who say they would prefer nongovernment schools clearly indicates the potential demand. The response of low-income families in a number of cities to the private scholarship programs discussed below is another indicator. 

Even "School Choice," published in 1992 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and widely criticized as biased against school choice, demonstrated a significant demand for private schools. The report included a nationwide telephone survey of about 1,000 parents, who were asked, "Is there some other school to which you would like to send your child? This school could be public or private, inside or outside of your district, within your child's grade level." Nineteen percent said they would like to send their child to a private school. According to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), total enrollment in independent schools in the last decade jumped 11 percent, with elementary school enrollment rising even faster, at 18 percent.