One of the arguments which opponents of school choice always make is
that it would adversely affect the public school system. Opponents claim
that the alternative schools would siphon off the best students, leaving
those who remain who are the least able and the poorest and most
disadvantaged students. Just as all of the rest of the arguments which
opponents have made have proven false, so also has this argument.
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and several other Ohio
and national organizations have conducted a study of the public schools
which have been affected by Ohio's Educational Choice Scholarship
program. It turns out that the threat of competition and losing students
is causing these public schools to improve their academic outcomes.
Robert Enlow, Executive Director of the Indianapolis-based Friedman
Foundation, said, "While the purpose of the Edchoice Program is to allow
students from chronically distressed public schools to attend private
schools, our research indicates that those underperforming public
schools are showing improvement as well. This study helps refute the
notion, often cited by school-choice critics, that voucher programs harm
public schools."
The study is the first empirical analysis examining the effects of
Ohio's Edchoice voucher program, enacted by the Ohio State Legislature
in 2005. Students began to use vouchers for the 2006 - 2007 academic
year. The program provides up to 14,000 Edchoice scholarships to
eligible students currently attending a public school that has been
designated in Academic Emergency or Academic Watch for two of the past
three years are eligible to apply for vouchers.
Enlow said "something wonderful and positive" is happening in these
under-performing public schools which have lost students to vouchers.
Among the key findings of the study were:
In 2006-2007, the first year of operation, the Edchoice
program produced "substantial academic improvements" in Ohio's most
stubbornly underperforming public schools. Positive effects were
detected in three grades, with no negative effect detected in any of the
other seven grades studied.
The positive effects were substantial in size, although not
revolutionary. Enlow said if the effects accumulate over time, in three
to four years the public schools studied will have improved by one
standard deviation (equal to one sixth of the distance between the top
scoring and bottom scoring schools in Ohio).