Chapter 10: Private School Finance: Tugging on the Curtain

No volume addressing the fiscal issues that confront urban schools in the United States would be complete without giving some attention to private schools. I use the phrase “in the United States” deliberately to draw distinction between the funding of private schools in America and elsewhere. In other nations, governments assume that private schools serve a public purpose and frequently provide direct fiscal support (Boyd & Cibulka, 1991; Kober, 1998). U.S. private schools receive no such accommodation.

Nevertheless, a number of issues continue to draw public policymakers’ attention to the fiscal dimensions of private schools. First, significant savings accrue to public schools when children are educated in private settings. Private elementary and secondary schools currently enroll about 10% of all students nationally, and 20% of all urban students (NCES, 2001a). A simple, albeit imperfect, estimate based upon the average perpupil cost to educate these children in public schools, suggests that private schools save taxpayers about $25 billion annually. For purposes of this discussion, what is noteworthy about the private school subsidy is that, as detailed elsewhere in this volume, many urban areas struggle to adequately finance their schools. If a substantial number of private school students were to return to public schools, or public dollars were used to support private schools, already fiscally stressed cities would need to raise taxes or decrease educational services.