Privatization of Education: Overview
The privatization of education refers to the shift from public to private control over educational institutions, which has gained attention in the U.S. due to concerns about public school performance. Advocates argue that introducing competition among schools, including private options, could lead to improvements in educational quality. They believe that allowing families to choose schools, possibly through vouchers or tax credits, would benefit students, especially those in underperforming areas. However, critics raise concerns that private schools may not serve all students equitably, particularly those with special needs or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The debate also touches on issues of funding, with some arguing that public resources should not support private education, while others assert that property tax systems unfairly burden families without school-aged children. The historical context reveals that public education in the U.S. has evolved significantly, yet issues of inequality and access remain prevalent. Recent developments, including the appointment of education officials and proposed changes in education policy, highlight the ongoing complexity and divisiveness of the privatization issue. This multifaceted topic invites diverse perspectives and raises critical questions about the future of education in America.
Privatization of Education: Overview
Introduction
The public school system in the United States has been subject to criticism regarding variations in funding, declining standardized test scores, and dilapidated facilities. One suggestion to improve the quality of schools is a free-market approach in which competition between public and private schools is encouraged. The idea is that schools should operate like any business, with the best schools attracting the most students (or customers). Proponents of this view expect that competition would improve quality across the board.
Proponents of the free-market approach believe that public-school funding would not be affected if some children go to private schools because the burden of educating them would also be lifted. However, others say that private schools would not accept the children who are the most difficult, and therefore the most expensive, to educate, such as those with disabilities or the very poor. Critics of private schools also say that some private religious schools discriminate against LGBTQ students by banning them from attending. Some private-school families argue that they should not have to pay taxes to fund schools their children do not attend. Their opponents counter that since most public-school funding comes from property taxes and the state, all property owners contribute whether they are parents or not.
Understanding the Discussion
Free market: A market or economy in which prices are determined not by government intervention but by unregulated supply and demand. A free market in education would be achievable only if all families could afford any of the options available.
Parochial schools: Church-run schools that provide students with religious as well as traditional academic education.
School board: An elected council that develops policy in a school district. Members must reside in their district, but they need not have school-aged children.
Separation of church and state: The First Amendment principle that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This clause prohibits the government from funding or banning any religious organization. It has been argued that vouchers routing public educational funds to parochial schools are in violation of this clause. Tuition tax subsidies for parents of private school students avoid this legal entanglement.
Standardized tests: Tests that are given to large groups of students in order to compare individuals to a norm or national average. Testing must be conducted in the same manner for all students. Standardized test scores are often used to gauge the performance of a school in teaching basics such as reading or mathematics.
History
The first public schools in America were established in the New England colonies in the 1600s. These schools were run by the clergy and mainly taught religious topics. Children of wealthy families often did not attend, instead receiving education in their homes from private tutors. By the mid-eighteenth century, private schools were more common than public ones. This trend left most children without the means to obtain an education.
In the 1840s, Horace Mann and Henry Barnard began advocating for change, arguing that public education would produce better citizens and prevent poverty. The public elementary school system in the United States developed as a result, providing free schooling for many American children by the end of the century.
The system, however, was not free of prejudice, as girls and children of color were often not accepted. African American students attended separate schools, with inferior facilities, in the United States until the practice of segregation was overturned by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Girls were not legally promised equal treatment until 1972, when Title IX prohibited discrimination based on gender.
In the 2000s, people viewed problems in the school system as relics of past inequities, especially those related to race. Whatever the cause, some schools were struggling. Those in areas where median annual income was low often had poor standardized test scores, and many students did not graduate. Some parents favored vouchers as an escape route from failing schools. They argued that vouchers for low-income students would close the socioeconomic achievement gap. A 2005 study from the National Center for Education Statistics supported this position. Students from independent (nonreligious) private schools scored an average of 45 points higher than public school students on the verbal component of the SAT, and 57 points higher in math. Parochial school students also outscored public school students, by 34 points in verbal ability and 19 points in math.
Public-school advocates countered that vouchers could move some students out of struggling schools, but at a high cost to those left behind. The National School Boards Association (NSBA) agreed that vouchers abandon public schools, siphoning money from where it is needed the most. They argued that vouchers would not raise achievement for the average student, citing a 2001 US General Accounting Office (GAO) study that found little difference between the test scores of voucher students and those of public-school students in Cleveland and Milwaukee. However, a 1996 study by sociologist Richard Arum concluded that in states with large private-school sectors, public schools fared better. Arum found that the presence of private schools motivated public schools to compete, raising achievement among all students.
The NSBA pointed out that voucher programs left many students behind because private schools chose only those they wished to admit. Students with poor grades or a history of disciplinary problems were not likely to be accepted by private institutions. Additionally, vouchers did not cover the entire tuition at most private schools. According to the Council for American Private Education, in 2007 the average tuition in K–12 nonsectarian private schools was $16,247; most vouchers were valued at around $3,000 at their highest. This meant that poor students, even if they had been given a voucher, still could not attend private schools, while rich students received money that poor students might otherwise have received.
Federal funding of private schools was also an issue in Europe. In 2000, Italy passed a law allowing the government to subsidize underprivileged students who attend parochial schools. In Italy, most private schools are run by the Catholic Church, and these parochial schools are now attempting to obtain full state funding. In most other European countries, private schools receive little or no assistance from the government.
In the United States, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a federal law that attempted to increase accountability and achievement in public schools. The law was controversial in large part because it gauged achievement according to annual standardized test scores, disadvantaging students who do not test well (a disproportionate number of whom are poor or minority students) and resulting in teachers spending class time "teaching to the test" to promote memorization rather than comprehension. It also required schools to demonstrate "Adequate Yearly Progress" by showing continued improvement in test scores from year to year, a goal that many criticized as unrealistic. Schools that did not meet the standards of NCLB could be subject to wholesale changes in staffing and management, potentially including closing the school, turning it into a charter school, or bringing in private management. One of the provisions allowed families of students in failing schools to enroll their children in other schools. Federal funding was increased for schools that needed improvement, but if a school was still judged to be deficient, funding could be withheld. Due to numerous bipartisan criticisms of many of the act's provisions, it was supplanted in 2015 by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which made schools accountable to respective state governments rather than the federal government.
Privatization of Education Today
Some states have implemented tuition tax subsidy programs, in which private-school families receive tax credits to offset tuition bills. Tax credits allow parents to retain more of their earned income, so the controversy of government money going to parochial schools is avoided. However, oversight of federal funds routed to private schools is still a concern. Private schools do not have to report their students' standardized test scores or account specifically for how federal funds are used.
In 2017 President Donald J. Trump nominated Michigan billionaire and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for secretary of education. DeVos’s advocacy of school privatization, lack of experience in public education, and her family’s political contributions to twenty-three senators voting on her confirmation made her a controversial choice. She was confirmed by a historic 51–50 vote in the Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote. In May 2017, Secretary DeVos outlined Trump’s school-choice agenda as one that would give parents the primary role in determining school options for their children and would give states more control over their education funding and programs and therefore the ability to develop their own school-choice programs. In July 2017, the House appropriations committee released a spending plan for the Department of Education that cut funding for the school-choice proposals outlined by the Trump administration. After months of political pushback from both Democrats and Republicans, DeVos’s opinion on the federal government’s involvement in school choice programs shifted. By October 2017, she stated that the federal government should not create a new private school choice program.
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