FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


Does school choice help children do better in school?
Absolutely! Objective studies of voucher programs in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Florida, New York, Dayton and Charlotte have shown statistically significant gains in test scores by students who receive vouchers.

Milwaukee
According to studies by researchers at Harvard and Princeton Universities, students who receive vouchers do better in reading and math. Harvard's study found that students achieve a six percentile point increase in reading and an 11 percentile point increase in math after four years in the voucher program. Princeton's study found that students achieve an eight percentile point gain in math after four years.

A 2004 study by Jay Greene found that students using vouchers graduated at a higher rate than those students in public schools. In the graduating class of 2003, Milwaukee students using vouchers to attend private high schools had a graduation rate of 64%, while in 37 Milwaukee public high schools the rate was 36%.

Cleveland
A study by Harvard University researchers of two voucher schools found that students experienced a seven percentile point increase in reading and 15 percentile point increase in math.

Florida
A 2003 study of the McKay Scholarship Program, which provides vouchers for any student with special needs, found that parents are extremely satisfied with their child's school. It also found a reduction in class sizes from 25.1 students per class to 12.8 and a significant decrease of behavioral problems in voucher schools.

New York
A Harvard University study, first released in 2002 and reaffirmed in 2003, found that African-American children who received privately funded vouchers scored, on average, 6.1, 4.2, and 8.4 National Percentile Rank (NPR) points higher than their peers in public schools on the combined reading and math
portions of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Dayton
Researchers found that after two years in the program, African-American students achieved a 6.5 percentile point gain on standardized tests.

Charlotte
A study by Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute found that students receiving a privately funded voucher achieved a 5.9 percentile point gain in math and a 6.5 percentile point gain in reading after one year.

Conclusion: Almost all studies show that vouchers help students do better on standardized tests. No study has found that vouchers hurt student achievement.




Does school choice make public schools better?

A growing body of evidence says yes. The theory is simple: if all schools compete for students, public schooling will improve. In practice, it is becoming clear that this is exactly what is happening.

Florida
A 2003 study by Jay Greene and Marcus Winters concluded that "Florida's low-performing public schools are improving in direct proportion to the challenge they face from voucher competition. These improvements are real, not the result of test gaming [or] demographic shifts." This study reconfirms
an earlier 2001 study by Dr. Greene, which found that "failing [public] schools that faced the prospect of vouchers made improvements that were nearly twice as large as gains displayed by other schools in the state."

Another study by Carol Innerst found that in response to the threat of vouchers, Florida's low-performing public schools extended the school year, hired more reading specialists, implemented one-on-one tutoring programs and developed reading programs that focus on phonics.

Milwaukee
Noted Harvard researcher Caroline Hoxby has shown that, "At public elementary schools where many students could receive vouchers, performance improved faster than at public schools where relatively few students could get vouchers." In fact, public schools most exposed to competition increased
math scores 7.1 percentile points between 1999 and 2002.

A study by School Choice Wisconsin also highlights the improvements in Milwaukee's public schools. They found that between 1991 and 2003 the dropout rate declined 6%; real spending per-pupil increased by $3,048; test scores increased in all grades tested; and dollars followed students, with individual
schools directly controlling 95% of their operating budget. In addition, the number of public schools on the list of Wisconsin Schools Identified for Improvement decreased from 55 to 43 between 2003 and 2004.

San Antonio
An analysis by Jay Greene and Greg Forster found that "Edgewood, a school district in San Antonio that faced a privately funded voucher program, outperformed 85% of Texas districts in its achievement gains."
Maine and Vermont A study by Christopher Hammons of the nation's two oldest voucher programs
concluded that student test scores were highest in public schools that are closer to "tuitioning" towns - that is, those towns that have decided to give parents vouchers instead of building and operating a local public school. In other words, the closer a student is to an area where schools compete for
voucher dollars, the better he or she does on standardized tests.

Conclusion: The evidence is mounting that school choice does indeed help public schools to get better.



Does the public really want school choice?

No doubt about it! In numerous polls conducted over the last few years, most Americans express support for school choice.

For example, the 2003 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll found that 62% of Americans would use a full tuition voucher to send their child to a private school. Another poll by the First Amendment Center found that 62% of Americans agree that parents should have the option to send their children to non-public schools using vouchers. These findings mirror polls conducted in 2000 by the Washington Post, the Pew Research Center and NBC News, which found 49%, 53% and 56% support for vouchers respectively.

A 2004 Friedman Foundation poll, conducted by leading research firm Wirthlin Worldwide, found that school choice support reached levels of 64%. Among blacks and Hispanics support is even higher. The 2002 national opinion poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Study found 57% support
for vouchers among blacks, 75% support among blacks under 35 and 74% support among black households with children. Also, a recent Washington Post poll about vouchers found 60% support for the issue among our Capitol's black residents.

Hispanic support is just as strong. A poll of 1,000 Hispanic adults, conducted in 2003 for The Latino Coalition, found 56% support for allowing low-income parents to use taxpayer funded vouchers. The Joint Center's 2002 poll found 66.8% support among Hispanic households with children.

Lastly, polls in specific areas of the country tend to show even greater support among minorities. For example, a poll in Louisiana by the Archdiocese of New Orleans found that 89% of African-American respondents said yes to vouchers when asked whether students in failing schools should be allowed
to transfer to other public, private or religious schools.

Conclusion: A majority of the American public - black, white or Hispanic - supports school choice.




Does school choice help special education students?

Definitely. Providing school vouchers to special education students allows families unhappy with their assigned public school to find a program that meet their child's individual needs.

The McKay Scholarship Program in Florida is used by over 13,000 of the state's 375,000 eligible special education students. In 2003, the Manhattan Institute released the first evaluation of the Florida program after conducting interviews with parents who were currently using the McKay voucher and those who previously used a McKay voucher.

The study found that over 92% of current McKay participants were satisfied with their McKay school compared to only 32% being satisfied with their public schools. Those participating also saw their class size drop dramatically from an average of 25.1 students per class in public schools to 12.8 students per
class in McKay schools.

Another major aspect for those using McKay vouchers was safety. McKay voucher students reported that they were victimized far less by other students because of their disabilities in McKay schools. In public schools, 46.8% were bothered often and 24.7% were physically assaulted, while in McKay schoolsonly 5.3% were bothered often and only 6.0% were assaulted.

The success of the Florida program and growing desire of parents wanting options for their child's special education needs has led to an expanding discussion in several states to implement a similar program.
Conclusion: School choice for special education allows parents to find a school that matches their child's individual needs and requirements.




Will school choice turn a private school into an over-regulated public school?

Not if we are vigilant! On one hand, we know that private schools do so well because they don't have to deal with the same, over-the-top bureaucratic red tape as public schools. They are free to be creative in the classroom and more open to trying a number of different things to get children to learn, such as phonics. The simple idea is that freedom from unnecessary regulation leads to better private schools and better student performance.

On the other hand, some argue that if vouchers are funded through tax dollars, then private schools should be accountable to the public. This may sound reasonable, but we need to be very careful. Certainly, we don't want the kind of accountability that the teacher union imagines, which is nothing
more than transforming private schools into public schools.

The simple truth is that private schools are already accountable, not just to parents, but to the public as well. Most states require that private schools comply with health and safety laws and guidelines prohibiting discrimination, as well as with laws on minimum school days and building codes. In addition,
most private schools already undertake yearly financial audits and test their children using nationally recognized tests.

The key point is that there is a big difference between the current rules governing private schools and the teachers unions' desire to burden private schools with excessive and pointless regulations. Private schools are good because they are free to innovate, and forcing them to use the same standards
as public schools, take state-mandated tests or comply with unneeded red tape is bad news.

The good news, though, comes from the more than 10 years of experience fighting union-sponsored attempts to add unnecessary red tape to the voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland. Each year, opponents have tried to increase the regulations on participating private schools. Each year, parents
and supporters reject these regulatory attempts.

Conclusion: What our opponents really want is to transform every private school into an over-regulated public school, but more government control of private schools is not good.



Is school choice constitutional?

If the program is well-designed, it is likely! This question was answered resoundingly in 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision upholding the constitutionality of Cleveland's voucher program. By a 5-4 vote, the Justices made it very clear that when an individual uses public funds to
make a private choice - in this case when a parent uses a voucher to make an individual decision to send his or her child to a private or religious school - it does not violate the First Amendment.

As Chief Justice William Rehnquist explained in the majority opinion, voucher programs like Cleveland's are "neutral in respect to religion [because they] provide assistance directly to a broad class of citizens, who, in turn, direct government aid to religious schools wholly as a result of their own genuine
and independent private choice."

This landmark decision is in line with a long series of High Court decisions. For example, in 1983, the Court upheld Minnesota's income tax deduction for educational expenses, including private school tuition. In 1993, the Court unanimously upheld the use of public funds by a blind student pursuing a
divinity degree at a religious college. Moreover, the Court did not strike down the GI Bill or Pell grants, both voucher programs allowing college students to attend the public, private or religious university of their choice.

While recent High Court rulings favor vouchers, some state constitutions also have language prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to support religious schools. However, as the Institute for Justice argues, "many court decisions interpret state constitutions to parallel the First Amendment. If so, the recent
First Amendment cases discussed above should control state constitutional interpretation. If the state constitutional provision is more restrictive, advocates may have to challenge such restrictions under the federal constitution."

In the end, whether or not voucher or school choice legislation is constitutional depends on how well the bill is designed. If parents make a truly private choice of which school their child attends, if there is no financial incentive to attend a religious school over a public school and if the program does not
allow undue government interference with religious schools, then the chances are the bill will be looked on favorably by the Court.

Conclusion: Recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court strongly favor vouchers. If a state designs its program well, then it will likely be legal.




Who supports school choice?

People from all backgrounds and political affiliations. Far from being a white, conservative, republican issue, support for school choice transcends political, racial and income boundaries. Consider the following comments from high profile democrats and educators:

Democrat Mayor of Washington, D.C., Anthony Williams:
In a May 2003 article in the Washington Post, Mayor Williams gave a clear explanation of why he now supports school vouchers. "[I] got up one morning and decided there are a lot of kids getting a crappy education and we could do better." He added later, "I know this is a controversial issue ... But we
are saying for the next five years, this is a useful initiative and experiment here in this city to complement the reforms that are already underway."

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, President of the Washington D.C., Board of Education:
In a March 29, 2003 article she wrote, "We should join the U.S. Department of Education in forging a system that includes vouchers, charter schools and public schools - one that would afford children in the District the best possible education."

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein:
In a July 2003 editorial for the Washington Post, Senator Feinstein said, "I have never before supported a voucher program ... [but] Based on the substantial amount of money pumped into the schools and the resultant test scores, I do not believe that money alone is going to solve the problem. This is why I believe the District should be allowed to try this pilot - particularly for the sake of its low-income students." She went on to assert, "Ultimately, this is not about ideology or political correctness. It is about a new opportunity for a good education."

Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman:
In a speech in August 2003, before an audience of organized labor in Chicago, the Senator faced booing when he announced he would support a pilot voucher program in the District. He responded to the crowd, "I'm going to speak the truth. I'm going to say what I think is best for America regardless."

Reverend Floyd Flake, former 11th term Democratic Congressman:
"Saving the future of our country by educating our children should not be thought of as a Democratic or Republican idea. Indeed, those who ponder whether or not they should support school choice because it is a "Republican" or "conservative" initiative are missing the point that the future of our children is at stake."

Other high-profile supporters of school choice include:
John Gardner, former Milwaukee School Board Member
Arthur Levine, President, Columbia Teachers College
John Norquist, former Democrat Mayor of Milwaukee

Conclusion: School choice is a bipartisan issue supported by people from bothsides of the aisle. Most importantly, PARENTS of all backgrounds support school choice, because they know it is best for their children.




Don’t vouchers drain resources from public schools?

Absolutely not! Just look at these examples:

Milwaukee
Between 1990 and 2001 real per-pupil spending increased over $1,800 from $7,646 to $9,502, and real state aid to Milwaukee went from $410 million to $661 million. In fact, according to the 2000 government-sponsored audit of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, "During the period in which the Choice program has been funded ... Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) experienced a net increase in both equalization aid and total state aids."

Moreover, consider an MPS sponsored report in 2002 which estimated that if the choice program were eliminated and all the voucher students returned to their local public school, MPS could incur $70 million in added operating expenses and could have to borrow $70 million for new facilities.

Cleveland
According to the Ohio Department of Education, between 1996 and 2002 expenditures for the City's public schools rose from $559.6 million to $725 million. Spending per-pupil has also increased, from $7,970 to $10,352. Also, Cleveland public schools spend over $8,800 per student while tuition payments
to private schools cannot exceed $2,700, thus the state saves about $6,100 for every child that uses a voucher.

Florida
A February 2003 study by Florida Tax Watch demonstrated the fiscal benefits of the corporate tax credit scholarship program, concluding that the program generated $25,557,654 in revenue in 2003-04 and would generate $238,861,920 over eight years. Another early analysis by the Collins Center on Public
Policy found that "there will be slight declines in state tax collections caused by the Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program, but that these small declines will likely be offset by increases in the amount of statewide revenue available for education. The increases in net revenues could accumulate to more than $600 million over the next ten years as low-income students leave the public schools to participate in the scholarship program."

In Florida's A+ Opportunity Scholarship Program there is no negative effect on education funding. Scholarships are capped at the state per-pupil expenditure amount and schools that receive an "F" or "D" rating get millions in new funds to hire more teachers or create tutoring programs.

Conclusion: Evidence and experience prove that voucher and tax credit programs do not drain money from public schools. Actually, they leave MORE money behind to educate FEWER students.




Are you saying that school choice actually saves money?

You bet! According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average private school tuition, including the most elite academies, is $4,689. At the same time, the average per-pupil spending in public schools is $8,830. For every child in public school that receives a voucher worth 60% of the average public school cost, or $5,298, the state saves $3,532. If 100,000 children get a voucher tomorrow, states would save $353,200,000 in the first year.

Maine and Vermont
In a study of Maine and Vermont's voucher programs, Dr. Christopher Hammons found that: 1) Schools that are closer to tuition towns and thus exposed to competition, whether rich or poor, rural or urban, have higher test scores, and 2) if schools in Maine and Vermont wanted to purchase the same gain in test scores by increasing per-pupil spending, they would have to spend an extra $909 per-student, or a combined $300 million per-year. Basically, they would have to increase per-pupil spending by 13% on average to achieve the same result that the tuitioning provides for free.

Florida
According to a Manhattan Institute study, the McKay Scholarship Program has been shown to produce highly superior parental satisfaction with their children's education "for the same or only slightly more money per-pupil than is spent in public schools."

Cleveland and Milwaukee
In both voucher programs, the amount of the voucher is less than what it costs the state to educate a child in the public schools. In Milwaukee, public schools spend over $9,500 per child, yet a voucher cannot exceed the average per-pupil spending by the state, which is only $5,783. That's a savings of
more than $3,700. There is even bigger savings in Cleveland.

Public schools get more than $8,800, but the voucher amount is $2,700: a $6,100 savings. Also, consider the amount of private investment in Milwaukee's schools since 1990. Almost $100 million in new money has gone into building new schools or expanding old ones. Charter schools have received
$32 million, public/private partnership schools got $2.8 million and private schools got $64.5 million. This new investment directly offsets higher taxes that would be required if the voucher program ended.

Arizona
A study by the CATO Institute using moderate assumptions about the growth of taxpayer participation, estimated that by 2015 the scholarship credit will be raising $58 million per year. From 1998 to 2003, the program generated over $113 million in donations to 47 scholarship organizations that distributed
nearly 77,000 scholarships for children to attend 312 private schools.

Conclusion: Not only is school choice better for students, it is the soundest economic choice. Competition among schools ensures that education dollars are spent wisely and efficiently.




Do vouchers really lead to more racially integrated schools?

Let's put this into perspective. Our nation's public schools are already largely segregated. In fact, according to Harvard University, "more than 70% of the nation's black students now attend predominately minority [public] schools."

Moreover, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, "private school students are more likely to be in racially mixed classes than are public school students."

As Manhattan Institute researchers reported, "according to observations of public and private school lunchrooms in two cities, private school students are more likely to sit in racially mixed groups than public school students." Evidence from the voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee proves
this point.

Milwaukee
According to a study by Marquette University's Institute for the Transformation of Learning, "adding religious schools has led to substantially more integration in choice schools than in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) ... half of MPS students attended racially isolated schools in 1999-2000, compared to 30.1% of students at religious choice schools. The result has been more integration, achieved voluntarily."

Cleveland
A study by Jay Greene in 1999 found that almost 20% of voucher recipients attend private schools that resemble the racial composition of the Cleveland metropolitan area, while only 5.2% of children in public schools are in similarly integrated schools. Also, 60.7% of public school students in Cleveland
attend schools that have either more than 90% white enrollment or fewer than 10% white enrollment.

Conclusion: Some say that vouchers will increase segregation. In fact, voucher programs have precisely the opposite effect.



Are school choice programs accountable?

In simple terms, the gold standard that Milton Friedman envisioned in his proposal 50 years ago is that schools are directly accountable to parents. When parents are free to choose their child's educational environment, schools must ensure that they provide the best product possible. Otherwise, parents
can choose a new provider.

Pubic accountability for the use of public funds, however, is a complex issue. On one hand, it is critical to ensure that private schools participating in a school choice program are not overburdened with regulations and that they maintain their unique character and autonomy. State agencies should not be
able to regulate the educational curriculum of participating schools and should not impose any additional regulations beyond those necessary to enforce the general requirements of the school choice program. To do more would limit the number of educational settings available to parents.

On the other hand, since oversight of publicly funded programs is often mandated by the legislature, the school choice movement should consider the issue seriously and, in fact, seek to guide how accountability is implemented.

To do less would mean that those unfriendly to school choice would have a free reign to turn private schools into institutions not much different from public, government-run schools. Consider the following:

Administrative Accountability
Should school choice programs require that students are treated fairly and kept safe by ensuring that participating private schools uphold existing state laws that apply to non-public schools? For example, some programs require that non-public schools meet health and safety laws or occupancy permit
requirements or state laws that apply to non-public schools regarding criminal background checks for employees and that exclude from employment any people not permitted by state law to work in a non-public school.

Financial Accountability
Should programs ensure that public funds are spent entirely for the purposes allocated by the legislature. For example, some programs negate the potential for fraud or financial mismanagement by requiring that participating schools submit an annual financial report that is certified by an independent auditor
to guarantee that reported figures are accurate.

Academic Accountability
The immediate level of academic accountability should exist wholly between parents and the schools. However, should programs ensure that participating schools report to parents on their child's achievement? Moreover, should schools be asked to ensure that participating students take a nationally
recognized norm referenced test in order to simply verify achievement? For example, the voucher program in Washington, D.C., requires that test scores of participating students are released to approved researchers in order to evidence improved achievement.

The question of accountability comes down to a simple decision: report or mandate? It seems reasonable to discuss whether private schools should report how safe schools are or how public funds are used or how much a child has learned. Most private schools across America do this already. What is unreasonable, however, is to mandate that participating private schools take only the state test or that they meet curriculum guidelines set by the state or that they use only government auditors. Private schools are not and never should be a mere creature of the state.

In the end, the goal of accountability should be to verify performance and ensure a proper relationship between consumer and provider, parent and school. Accountability should not become a tool that destroys the character of the private school marketplace or that creates a new, government-run
school system.

Conclusion: School choice programs should always ensure that schools are directly accountable to parents, a practice that is cemented when parents can totally control education dollars. Opponents will seek to use accountability as a tool to control private schools, but private school autonomy should be maintained.

 




School Choice Missouri
info@schoolchoicemissouri.org