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Private school voucher systems, in which parents are awarded vouchers to send their children to private schools, have gained support in this country over the past decade. Currently, vouchers are supported by about one-half of all adults. Advocates of private school vouchers argue that private schools do a better job of educating students than public schools. They say private schools are unencumbered by bureaucracies, unions, and burdensome state rules and regulations. Voucher proponents also maintain that the resulting competition among and between public and private schools will improve the quality of public schools.
There is a significant body of research on a variety of issues related to private schools and school vouchers. Brief summaries of that research are presented below.
Public and Private School Achievement Levels
In general, students who attend private schools achieve at slightly higher levels than do public school students. However, research consistently has shown that these differences are insignificant and primarily attributable to the fact that parents of private school students tend to have higher levels of education and higher levels of personal wealth (Alexander and Pallis, 1985; Levin, 1990; and Meyer, 1989).
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Private School Profiles Private education in the United States is not homogeneous. A 1998 study by the National Center for Education Statistics (Private School Universe Survey, 1995-96) offered summary information on private schools in the United States, including the following:
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More recently, Murray (1999) reports that scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress do not indicate that private schools are superior to public schools. In fact, he points out that advantaged students do marginally better in public schools, while disadvantaged students do slightly better in private schools. In either case, he notes that the differences are insignificant.
The Selection Practices of Private Schools
Private schools do not accept all students who wish to attend. In 1982, Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore reported that the screening criteria typically include personal interviews, grades, and analysis of behavioral patterns. Likewise, research by Corwin (1993) found that nearly all Catholic schools, which represent the largest proportion of private schools in the United States, require test scores for admission, in addition to strong academic records (61% of sampled schools), recommendations of elementary school principals (73%), and successful completion of the previous school year (98%). About one-half require interviews with parents and students.
More recently, Ascher and Gray also make note of the selection practices used by nonsectarian and Catholic schools, which would be the primary options available to voucher recipients (1999):
“Voucher programs claim to give parents a choice; in reality, they give parents the option to be chosen by a private school. Nonsectarian private and Catholic schools have always kept a firm hand on both admissions and exits: Academic entrance requirements, interviews, class-size limits, changes in tuition, and expulsions are established by private schools to determine who enters and remains. It is the fact that these schools choose their students that helps them become high performing. Clearly, this is not the kind of choice that assists those students who have been failed by public schools and whose skills are lacking (p. 33).”
Services Provided
Corwin notes that only a minority of Catholic schools provide bilingual services (9%), programs for the handicapped (12%), or vocational/technical programs (14%). These practices stand in sharp contrast to America’s public schools, which are required to educate all students in a community regardless of personal or family characteristics.
In Wisconsin’s public schools, between 12 and 13 percent of students receive special education services. Of the 150,140 students enrolled in the state’s private schools as of December 1, 1996, only 1,119 (.75%) were enrolled in special education programs.
Effects of Choice on Private Schools
There also are those who remind us that a system of private school vouchers would erode the advantages that private schools currently have, including selective admission policies, a smaller bureaucracy, and lower salaries. For example, Corwin (1993) concludes that the costs of private schools would soon rise under a voucher program because private schools would be pressured to educate all children, including those with special needs. Once this happens, these schools will face the same problems encountered by the typical public school. The costs of educating students in private schools are also likely to increase significantly. Perhaps this is why many representatives of mainline church schools have expressed concerns about the potential impact of a voucher system on their curricula and programs.
Competition
Finally, advocates of vouchers argue that the resulting competition from private schools will benefit public education. Carnoy (1993) concludes that this conviction is based on the dubious premise that a little competition from a few private schools will reform the vast enterprise of public education. This argument also is problematic because in small and rural communities there is no private school alternative.
Money Magazine's Study of Public and Private Schools
The popular media also have investigated the issue of private school superiority. In the October, 1994 issue of Money Magazine Topolnicki reached some important conclusions in her study of public and private schools:
· “Forget the myth that private schools are the best. Our survey shows many public schools are every bit as good — if not better” (p. 98).
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
In 1990, Wisconsin created the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. This was the nation’s first private school voucher program and was intended to improve the Milwaukee public school system. The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program allows up to 15 percent of all students in Milwaukee Public Schools to attend private schools at public expense (the amount of the voucher is equal to the Milwaukee Public School per-student, state aid). In order to be eligible, students must come from households with incomes no greater than 1.75 times the poverty level. Wisconsin Statute 119.23 identifies students who are eligible for the choice program during the 1998-99 school year:
In the previous school year the pupil was enrolled in the school district operating under this chapter (i.e., MPS), was attending a private school under this section, was enrolled in grades kindergarten to 3 in a private school located in the city other than under this section or was not enrolled in school.
Enrollment in Milwaukee Voucher Schools
If student applications to attend a participating private school exceed enrollment limits, schools are required to use a random selection process. During the 1998-99 school year, slightly more than 6,000 students attended 86 private schools. Of this number, 30 are non-religious schools with nearly 2,100 students; 56 are religious schools with an enrollment of nearly 4,000. Participation has grown steadily since the program was first implemented in 1990-91. At that time, 337 students attended voucher schools. In fact, enrollment has increased dramatically since 1997-98 (about 1,500 students) because of the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that expanded the program to include religious schools in Milwaukee. Of the 6,000 students who attended private schools during the 1998-99 school year, approximately 5,000 already were attending a private school the previous year.
Requirements of Milwaukee Voucher Schools
The standards for participating private schools are minimal. They are not required to employ certified teachers, nor are they required to accept students with Exceptional Educational Needs if significant adjustments to school programs or facilities are required. In addition, students are not required to participate in state level testing programs.
Other requirements: They must not discriminate against students; they must provide at least 875 hours of instruction each year in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and health; and they must meet all health and safety laws or codes that apply to Wisconsin’s public schools.
Once in the program, schools can continue if they meet one of four criteria: (1) 70 percent or more of the students must advance at least one grade level each year; (2) there must be an average attendance rate of 90 percent; (3) at least 80 percent of the students must demonstrate significant academic progress, or (4) at least 70 percent of parents must meet parent involvement criteria established by each of the participating schools.
Evaluation of Vouchers
Analysis of test data from the first five years of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program for the first few years showed that the performance of voucher children was about equal to the students who remained in Milwaukee public schools (Witte, 1995 and 1997). An evaluation of the Cleveland Voucher Program by researchers at Indiana University also reported no significant difference in achievement between voucher and students in the Cleveland Public Schools (Metcalf, et al, 1998). Walsh (1998) notes that the most surprising finding is that students attending private schools which were opened after the voucher program was begun performed worse in all subject areas than students in the Cleveland Public Schools and other private schools.
These findings are not unexpected. Research shows that differences in achievement between public and private school students are primarily a function of family characteristics; the family and social circumstances of children who attend Milwaukee voucher schools and those who attend Milwaukee public schools are essentially the same. (It should be noted that children who have entered the voucher schools have been somewhat poorer and have had lower levels of achievement than children remaining in MPS. Also parents of voucher students express high levels of satisfaction for the schools their children attend.)
The Voucher Process
The state of Wisconsin issues a check payable to the parent of a voucher student and sends it to the school in which the child is enrolled. The parent then signs the check over to the school to cover the cost of tuition. During the 1998-99 school year, participating choice schools receive $4,894 per student, or the private school’s operating and debt service cost per student, whichever is less.
Selection Practices/Accepting Children with Special Needs
Current law requires participating schools to admit students on a random basis if applications exceed available space. There is an exception provided; siblings of voucher students can be given preference. Early in 1999, the NAACP and People for the American Way charged that many Milwaukee voucher schools were either violating the random selection process and/or failing to submit their random selection plan to the Department of Public Instruction. As a result of this complaint, the DPI has indicated it will more closely monitor selection practices, along with requiring participating private schools to submit their random selection plans to the DPI.
In their selection practices, voucher schools are not allowed to discriminate against a child with special needs during the admission process. However, the choice school is required to offer services to students with special needs if they can be provided with minor and inexpensive adjustments.
Conclusion
Voucher advocates maintain that voucher programs benefit all students. Students receiving vouchers are helped because they can attend a private school of their own choosing, while students who remain in the existing public schools benefit because competition from the voucher schools will improve public education. These promises eventually may be realized; however, there is little or no evidence at this time to show this is the case.
— WEAC Division for Instruction and Professional Development
Sources
Alexander, K. L. and Pallas, A.M. “School Sector and Cognitive Performance. When is a Little a Little?” Sociology of Education (April 1985): 115-128.
Ascher, Carol and Gray, Richard. “Substituting the Privilege of Choice for the Right to Equality.” Education Week (June 2, 1999).
Corwin, Ronald. Private Schools and Parental Choice. Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory, 1993.
Coleman, James S., Hoffer, Thomas and Kilgore, Sally. High School Achievement. New York: Basic Books, 1982.
Levin, H.M. “The Theory of Choice Applied to Education.” In Choice and Control in American Education, Vol III: The Practice of Choice, Decentralization, and School Restructuring, pp. 285-318. Edited by W. Clune and J. Witte. New York City: Falmer Press, 1990.
Metcalf, Kim, et al. A Comparative Evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program and Evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship Program: Second Year Report, 1997-1998. Bloomington, Indiana: University of Indiana, 1997
Murray, Frank B. “What’s So Good About Choice?” Education Week. January 27, 1999. www.edweek.org/
Private School Universe Survey, 1995-96. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, March 1998. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98229.pdf
Topolnicki, Denise M. “Why Private Schools are Rarely Worth the Money.” Money Magazine (October 1994): 98-112.
Witte, John et al. Fifth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1995.
Witte, John. Achievement Effects of the Milwaukee Voucher Program. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1997.
Walsh, Mark. “Vouchers Yield Mixed Results, Report Says.” Education Week, (December 2, 1998). www.edweek.org/
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