Regulation of private schools is a growing concern among proponents of school choice. This paper uses a national survey of private schools as a basis for analyzing the potential effects of various regulations. More than a thousand schools responded to questions about their willingness to participate in a school choice program if they had to comply with particular regulations. The survey reveals that the directors of many private schools would rather turn down “free money” than compromise the core qualities of their schools; it also reveals that different kinds of schools often do not agree on what those core qualities are.
The paper also examines some economic flaws in school choice programs and explains why limiting student eligibility narrows the market and stunts improvement and why school choice policies must be carefully crafted to take into account the dominance and funding structure of Catholic schools.
Finally, the paper provides a series of dos and don’ts for school choice policymakers, organized under four principles. First, create broad‐based demand. Second, create a wide‐open playing field on which schools may differentiate themselves and compete, and eliminate entry barriers to new schools. Third, avoid skewing prices with tuition caps or non‐need‐based subsidization. Finally, avoid conflicts of interest between the people paying for education and the parents and children benefiting from education by creating a system that maximizes direct payment by parents and minimizes coercive wealth transfers through the state.
