Researchers have blown apart another liberal myth with an in-depth study of school choice programs in America — including Florida, which is a leader in the field.
Big Education and its propaganda support team in the media long have claimed that allowing parents more choice in how their children are educated “drains money” from the government schools.
That of course contains the built-in assumption that it is more important to fund government schools than it is for children to get a good education.
In The Fiscal Effects of School Choice, EdChoice found that 48 programs in 25 states offer significant savings and benefits to taxpayers, parents and even government schools.
Key findings in the study:
- From their inception through FY 2022, the 48 school choice programs studied generated cumulative net fiscal benefits for state and local taxpayers combined ranging from an estimated $19.4 billion to $45.6 billion. Since all programs analyzed had been operating for over five years by FY 2022, the fiscal benefits are likely closer to the high-end estimate of $45.6 billion.
- On a per-student basis, these cumulative net fiscal benefits equate to $3,300 to $7,800 per program participant.
- Put another way, states experienced fiscal benefits worth an estimated $1.70 to $2.64 for every dollar spent on a school choice program.
- On average, if at least 56% of students who participate in choice programs switched from public to private schools, these programs saved taxpayer dollars overall. For programs that have been operating a long time, this break-even rate may be as low as 37%. These break-even switcher rates are significantly lower than switcher rates observed in random assignment studies (85% to 90%, on average) and imply significant savings from choice programs.
One reason for the savings is the cost difference: $17,000 a year for government schools vs. $6,000 for the average school choice program.
Students who choose to leave government schools also help lower the cost of building new schools. This is being seen in Jacksonville, where the school board is scaling back plans to add schools and contemplates closing 18 schools. (The figure is fluid and could change in coming years.)
Finally, the amount of money going to school choice programs is a meager 1 percent of the funding for government schools. That does not support claims that the schools are being drained of funds.
When wild claims are made, check the facts.
Some years ago, amid the annual shouting in the media about “budget cuts” in government schools, I decided to examine the issue.
I downloaded from the state Dept. of Education Web site the annual budgets for every school district in Florida over a 10-year period.
What I found was: not one of the 67 districts in Florida had cut spending in any of the 10 years examined.
The total increase in spending was about 30 percent.
Yet rich, powerful teacher union bosses and Florida’s Far Left editorial writers were complaining loudly about imaginary budget cuts for the entire period of 10 years. I have no doubt that an updated examination would find the same trend – even though students have been fleeing the “traditional” schools.
Myths and propaganda are no substitute for factual information.
