School choice offers options not limited to neighborhoods of residence, but does it benefit students and the education system? Economist John Singleton weighs the pros and cons.

One of the biggest decisions that parents in the United States make is about where to send their children for school from kindergarten through grade 12.

Singleton, an associate professor of economics at the University of Rochester, studies the intersection of public economics and the economics of education—specifically, the topic of school choice.

With a new school year already underway or on the horizon for many, he shares insights everyone should know about school choice, whether or not you’re currently the parent or guardian of school-age children.

“Taxpayers are now financing education at charter schools and, to some extent, private schools,” Singleton says. “So, there are very real concerns about the impact on resources at traditional public schools, and what that means for public education and society more broadly.”

FIRST, WHAT IS SCHOOL CHOICE?

School choice refers to a set of policies that create options for families and students that are not directly linked to their neighborhood of residence.

The concept of school choice has changed drastically in the last three decades. Until the mid-1990s, it typically involved moving to a different neighborhood or sending a child to a private school at the parent’s or guardian’s expense. Then, in 1991, Minnesota passed the country’s first charter school law. In the three-plus decades since then, charter schools and other school choice options have proliferated.

Today, school choice means that parents can opt to send their K–12 children to:

  • Public schools, where children are often assigned based on area school boundary maps and zoning.
  • Magnet schools, which are a category of public schools that often focus on specific areas of study, such as STEM, and may have selective admissions.
  • Charter schools, which receive government funding yet operate independently of state school systems and local districts. Charter schools are tuition-free and must accept all students who apply, as long as there is room for the students.
  • Private schools, which are run by private, sometimes religious, organizations, charge tuition, and may be selective. In a growing number of states, voucher or scholarship programs exist that provide government funding to defray the cost of tuition for eligible students.

Parents can also opt to homeschool their children, but Singleton limits his work to school choice policies adopted by school boards and governments.

An important point to keep in mind, Singleton notes, is that in the United States, “fewer than 10% of all students are attending charter schools, and maybe another 10% attend private schools. So, by and large, most students are staying in the public school system.”

Read the full article about school choice by Peter Iglinski at Futurity.