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John Taylor,
President of the Virginia Institute for Public
Policy, publisher of Virginia Viewpoint.
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I
have been a policy analyst all my professional life.
My job is to estimate the costs of a certain policy
-- for example, building a new high school,
constructing a new road, etc. -- estimate the value
of the resulting benefits, and compute the
difference between the benefits and costs. If the
benefits exceed the costs, the policy is, at least,
not a bad idea. School choice in
Virginia
generates benefits at no cost. In fact, this policy
would actually save money. This is the first time in
my career that I have conducted a benefit-benefit
analysis.
Here
is a simple fact. Private school tuition is lower,
on average, than public school per pupil
expenditures. This means that we have an opportunity
to save taxpayers’ money simply by giving parents
the opportunity to send their children to the
schools of their choice.
In
the 2002-03 school year in Virginia, the average per-pupil expenditure in the public
school system is approximately $7,450, of which the
taxpayers of the Commonwealth pay 86 percent. So, it
costs Virginia taxpayers roughly $6400 (.86 x $7450) to educate one
child for one year, not counting the capital costs
of the buildings. The average private school tuition
in
Virginia
is approximately $4,500. Therefore, taxpayers would
save about $1,900 for every child who would choose
private school over public school, even if the
taxpayers had to pay the entire tuition.
Suppose
just 10 percent of the 116,000 students in the Virginia
public school system migrated to private schools
with full scholarships. Taxpayers would save $220.4
million ($1,900 x 116,000). This would create a fund
that could be put to any number of uses. We could
reduce the budget deficit, reduce taxes, build
roads, fund higher education (a personal favorite),
or even increase spending on the students who remain
in the public schools.
Not
only that, but we could anticipate a migration of 10
percent even if we didn't pay the full tuition. For
example, we could pay up to $4,500, but means test
based on income, so that the median family would
receive a subsidy of, say, $3,000 per child. This
would allow all parents, including those who already
have children in private school, to apply for
scholarships. Since approximately 10 percent of
eligible children are currently in private school,
we could offer 130,000 scholarships averaging $3,000
each, which would cost taxpayers $390 million, but
would save $742.4 million ($6,400 x 116,000), for a
net saving to taxpayers of $352.4 million each year.
This
calculation does not include the capital costs of
new schools. If a local school district experienced
a 10 percent reduction in public school attendance,
they might be able to avoid building a new school,
and save millions more.
For
example, a proposed new high school in the
Williamsburg/James City County (WJCC) school
district is expected to cost $42 million and serve
1,000 students. If the 1,000 high school students in
that district opted to go to private school,
taxpayers would save both the per-pupil expenditures
and the capital costs that otherwise would be
necessary to pay the loan on the new building. The
capital cost is $2,100 per student (at an interest
rate of 5 percent) plus $8,477 in per pupil
expenditures (WJCC is a relatively high cost school
district), or a total of $10,577 per student. State
and local taxpayers would save 90 percent of that
amount or approximately $9,500 per student, per
year, forever. Since we expect that 10 percent of
the eligible population is in private schools
already, we could offer 1,300 scholarships to move
one thousand students to private schools. By not
building the third high school we would create an
annual fund of $9.5 million. We could offer 1,300
scholarships averaging $5,000 per year at a cost of
$6.5 million. This would result in a saving of $3
million per year for the taxpayers.
Who
gains from school choice? Obviously, the parents who
would rather not be forced to send their children to
the public school, but who cannot afford to pay for
both their children's education and the education of
other people's kids. The students who attend the
school of their choice benefit. The children who
remain in the public school system benefit by having
smaller classes. The public schools will improve
because of the increased competition. Most recently,
a study of the school choice voucher program in Sweden
showed that test scores in the public schools
improved as a result of the school choice program
there. Teachers benefit both by having more schools
competing for their services, and by having more
choice as to where they teach. Taxpayers benefit. If
the cost savings are spent on other state and local
services, the recipients of those services also
benefit. This is a win-win opportunity for everyone
that politicians would be foolish not to consider at
this time in Virginia.
--April
28, 2003
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