How Do Families Choose Between Public and Private Schools

For two decades, edu­ca­tion reform in Amer­i­ca has focused on giv­ing stu­dents choic­es beyond being assigned by home address to a sin­gle tra­di­tion­al dis­trict-run pub­lic school. This is part­ly why pol­i­cy­mak­ers in New Orleans and a num­ber of oth­er urban cen­ters have insti­tut­ed a ​“port­fo­lio” of pub­licly-sup­port­ed edu­ca­tion options that includes tra­di­tion­al dis­trict-run pub­lic schools, pub­lic char­ter schools, and vouch­er-sup­port­ed pri­vate schools. In the­o­ry, com­pe­ti­tion from char­ter and vouch­er schools will cre­ate addi­tion­al pres­sure for pub­lic schools to improve in order to retain stu­dents and asso­ci­at­ed per-capi­ta fund­ing. But whether this com­pe­ti­tion aris­es in prac­tice depends on whether fam­i­lies con­sid­er both pub­lic and vouch­er schools and how they choose among avail­able school options.

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