How should government funds be divided between public and private schools?
The free market answer is that money should follow children to their schools of choice—public or private—the gain or loss of funding providing the incentive effect of competition. Not everyone is persuaded by this line of reasoning. Indeed, the main argument of voucher opponents is that vouchers would “drain money” out of the public schools and make it impossible for them to improve. This argument is misleading because it ignores the fact that the public schools would still have as much (or more) money per child—they would simply be losing money for the children they no longer have to educate. It is true, however, that public schools have fixed costs—and especially if only a small number of kids go private, districts may find it difficult to achieve many cost savings, particularly in the short run. One response is to design a system that would hold back a portion of the funding that would otherwise leave the public schools when a voucher student departs. In one sense, public schools wo
Related Questions
- Does the receipt of public funds in school choice programs impose duties on private schools with respect to disabled children?
- What is the effect of state constitutional provisions prohibiting the use of public funds in private or religious schools?
- Does the provision of public funds invariably open up private schools to extensive government regulation?
