Free school certificate

SCHOOL VOUCHERS have garnered increased attention as more states have adopted programs allowing families to have a choice of private or public--rather than just public--schools. The idea of school choice traces its history at least as far back as political essayist Thomas Paine, who, in The Rights of Man (1791), proposed providing financial support to parents who could use those funds to send their children to private schools. However, it was not until Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman discussed the idea in his 1962 classic, Capitalism and Freedom, that the concept began to receive serious consideration in modern America. Interest in school choice accelerated in 1983 following the release of A Nation at Risk, a report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education that identified a rising tide of mediocrity in American education, and forced reformers and policymakers to take a serious look at the situation.

A comprehensive survey of public and private schools published by John Chubb and Terry Moe in 1990 gave strong support to the growing belief that centralization and bureaucracy are the main causes of inefficiency. As evidence that government learning institutions are overcentralized and bureaucratized, they detailed the difference in administrative overhead between public and private schools. For example, it was noted that there were 6,000 administrators in the New York City public school system, yet a mere 25 in the Catholic schools--the latter serving nearly one-fourth as many students. Other scholars also have documented the consistent trend over the last several decades toward larger, centralized school districts. In 1945, there were more than 100,000 school districts in the U.S. By 1993, the number had fallen to 14,881. During this same period, the enrollments in public schools increased from about 25,000,000 to over 46,000,000.

As districts became larger, school bureaucracies increased in proportion to the number of teachers in classrooms. Today, 51.6% of school employees are teachers. In 1950, nearly 70% were. In 2000, 62% of public school spending went for instruction. Administrative costs consumed 15%, or nearly one-fourth, of what schools spent on instruction. It wasn't only free market intellectuals that pointed to monopoly and centralization as the core malady of public schools. In 1989, Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, stated, "Public education operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everybody's role is spelled out in advance and them are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It's no surprise that our school system doesn't improve: It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy."

In addition to causing massive inefficiencies and waste, instructional monopolies tend to serve many or most of their clients poorly, especially in a large and diverse society. As economist Walter Williams observes: "A state monopoly in the production of a good or service enhances the potential for conflict, through requiring uniformity; that is, its production [necessitates] a collective decision on many attributes of the product, and once produced, everybody has to consume the identical product whether he agrees with all the attributes or not...."

During the past 20 years, an increasing number of activists and policymakers have fought for reforms that would break the government monopoly in K-12 education. To date, 11 states have implemented school choice programs that permit families to choose between public and private schools. However, many of these programs are restricted in a number of ways that have prevented a fully competitive education market from developing. Virtually all have student quotas, or restrict participation to children from the community's poorest families or schools. Such restrictions dilute the potential benefits that would arise from a fully competitive education market. Although limited school choice programs such as these provide help to some youngsters, they are not large enough to unleash the entrepreneurial forces necessary to create a major revolution in educational quality.

An ideal school choice program would give every child a voucher or tax credit to be spent on educational services at any public or private school in the state. The amount of the voucher or tax credit should be nearly equivalent to the amount of tax funds already being spent per student in the government schools. In 2000 (the most recent year for which data is available), average private elementary school tuition in the U.S. was less than $3,500. Private secondary schools cost $6,052. Since the average tuition for all private schools, elementary and secondary, is $4,689, a voucher amount of $5,000 probably would be adequate to cover the cost at the majority of private schools. Taking into consideration the mean per-pupil spending for public schools is now $9,354, most states could propose an even higher voucher amount and still realize substantial savings.

Currently, the majority of low-cost private schools are religiously affiliated and are subsidized in part by an associated church. In most cities, the Catholic Church offers the largest number in the low-cost price range. New start-up institutions cannot be expected to match the cost of local parochial schools, therefore, states should not target choice programs toward the cost of Catholic schools. However, a voucher amount of $5,000 or more would give students access to most private schools, religious and secular.

In addition, the ideal school choice plan would allow parents to add their own money to the amount of the voucher or tax credit, if they desired. The ability of some families to supplement the amount of tuition paid is what would drive reform and progress in educational theories and practices. Although innovations may be tried first in more expensive schools, they eventually would be adopted by schools generally. As in all economic sectors, wealthy people provide the initial capital to finance experimentation. Those methods found to be most useful are soon expanded. The price of the innovation comes down, and the product is made available to everyone at less cost. A school choice program that prohibits families (who wish to) from adding onto their tuition produces a market that is far less attractive to fresh capital and new entry than one where entrepreneurs can attract consumers from all income levels. Without the interest and investment of wealthy and middle-income families, a real educational revolution probably will not take place.

Some school choice programs restrict the participation of for-profit schools. That is a serious mistake. Since the purpose of alternatives is to focus market forces and capital on the problem of education, the profit motive is an important part of reform. Without that benefit, there is less drive for schools to expand or improve their services. Historically, most private schools have operated as nonprofit entities. Although they have been shown generally to do a better job than public schools, the independent nonprofit education sector has performed very poorly when compared to economic sectors with a monetary stimulus. For example, improvements and advances in the computer, medical, and automobile industries have advanced rapidly. In contrast, schools and classrooms basically resemble those of a generation ago (except, perhaps, for computers) and educational costs have increased sans innovations. Even the best and most successful private schools have failed, in general, to expand while instructional changes that have been shown to be effective based on empirical evidence have been outnumbered by ill-conceived fads.

Economists who look at the lack of progress in educational improvement often cite the absence of the profit motive as a major factor, as entrepreneurs are dissuaded from investing substantial time and financial resources into schooling. However, many politicians and members of the public think that the profit motive has no place in education, yet for-profit daycare and preschool are thriving industries in the U.S., giving quality childcare and educational services to youngsters every day. The same would be true for K-12 education. For-profit institutions like Sylvan Learning Systems and Kaplan Inc. have been providing topnotch instructional programs to thousands of satisfied children and parents for years.

Access to private schools can be achieved through vouchers or tax credits. Under a voucher program, a state would issue one to the parent or guardian of every child, to be spent on tuition at the private or public school of the parent's choosing. Public schools should be required to honor the voucher or tax credit as full payment, but private institutions should be free to charge an additional stipend to foster more competition.