School Vouchers

1
School Vouchers

• Yes or No?

2
Why School Vouchers?

• What are vouchers?
• What benefits do they offer?
• What problems are they supposed to solve?
• Will they work?
• What will vouchers do for Utah?
• Should we adopt vouchers?

3
What I Found

• Very polarized debate
• Different experts interpreting the same data in
  significantly different ways
• Generally poor evidence
• Deemed unconstitutional in Florida and Colorado

4
What I found For Vouchers

• Parental choice
• Whats best for my child
• Reflects my values
• Parental involvement
• Equality of education
• Increase (good) teachers salaries
• Free markets will improve all schools
• Schools will be more efficient and more
  responsive
• Access to better education provided by private
  schools

5
What I Found Against Vouchers

• Segregates students by SES, race, religion and
  special needs
• Creates creaming and peer effects
• Subsidies for the rich
• Only knowledgeable participants will enjoy the
  benefits
• Schools focus on marketable issues
• Competition will discourage innovation
• Not true marketplace Public schools have more
  regulations and take more expensive students

6
Voucher Will Improve Education

• Private schools are more efficient and better
  educators. Competition will force public
  education to get better
• Mixed opinions from experts
• Mixed results from studies

7
Mixed results

• Parents are more/less involved
• Public schools are better/are not better in
  response to competition
• Private schools are better/not better than public
  schools.

8
Private Schools are Better
Results for Nonpublic Schools in NAEP
Assessments, http//nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
about/nonpublicschools.aspresults
9
Perception vs. Reality

• Adjusting the comparisons for student
  characteristics resulted in reductions in all
  four average differences of approximately 11 to
  14 points. Based on adjusted school means, the
  average for public schools was significantly
  higher than the average for private schools for
  grade 4 mathematics, while the average for
  private schools was significantly higher than the
  average for public schools for grade 8 reading.
  The average differences in adjusted school means
  for both grade 4 reading and grade 8 mathematics
  were not significantly different from zero.

Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools
Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, National
Assessment of Educational Progress,
http//nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard//pdf/studies/
2006461.pdf
10
The Milwaukee Experience Our best example in
action

• Begin in 1990
• Aimed at inner city poor
• Full tuition
• Data collected for the first 5 years only!
• Parents choice based on little to no information
• Serves approximately 17,000 students
• Costs over 110,000,000 in 2006-07
• Data showed no significant differences in student
  performance with following caveat

11
The Milwaukee Experience Our best example in
action
What do these numbers tell us? Are they
significant? Does it say more about class size?
Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School
Students in Milwaukee, 2004, http//www.schoolcho
icewi.org/data/currdev_links/grad_rate.pdf Last
two rows are my math.
12
Vouchers and Utahs Law

• (1) To be eligible to enroll a scholarship
  student, a private school shall
• (a) have a physical location in Utah where the
  scholarship students attend classes and have
  direct contact with the school's teachers
• (g) employ or contract with teachers who
• hold baccalaureate or higher degrees or
• have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that
  qualifies them to provide instruction in the
  subjects taught
• (3) The following are not eligible to enroll
  scholarship students
• a school with an enrollment of fewer than 40
  students
• a school that operates in a residence
• Review by legislative auditor general.
• The legislative auditor general shall conduct a
  review and issue a report on the Parent Choice in
  Education Program after the conclusion of the
  2013-14 school year.

http//le.utah.gov/2007/bills/hbillenr/hb0148.pdf
13
Vouchers and Utah

• Minimal teaching requirements Bachelors
  degree, background check
• Minimal number of students
• 40
• Minimal facility requirements
• Not your house
• First report six full school years after
  implementation

14
Private Schools in Utah, 2003-2004
15,907 represents 3.1 of students enrolled in
2003-2004 based on numbers from Digest of
Education Statistics 2005.
Characteristics of Private Schools in the United
States, 2006, http//nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006319
.pdf Third, fourth and fifth columns are my
additions.
15
Vouchers and Utah

• Why do we want a universal voucher program?
• Who will gain the most from this program?
• What will they gain?
• Will our program be found constitutional?

16
Vouchers and the Constitution

• 53A-6-102.   Legislative findings on teacher
  quality -- Declaration of education as a
  profession -- Annual report.
• (b) In providing for the safe and effective
  performance of the function of educating Utah's
  children, the Legislature further finds it to be
  of critical importance that education, including
  instruction, administrative, and supervisory
  services, be recognized as a profession, and that
  those who are licensed or seek to become licensed
  and to serve as educators     (i) meet high
  standards      (ii) maintain those standards in
  the performance of their duties while holding
  licenses
• To teach in private school
• Bachelors degree

17
School Vouchers Yes or No?

• Universal Voucher Programs, Including Utahs
• Dont address a real issue
• Creates new bureaucracy and new problems
• Dont offer better education!
• Targeted Voucher Programs, Like Milwaukees
• Create new problems
• Other solutions may be better and less costly
• Dont offer better education!
• No. There is no compelling evidence for the
  adoptions of vouchers.