Today, the Friedman Foundation released a one-of-a-kind fiscal assessment that covers the operational life spans of school voucher programs. What fiscal effects do vouchers have on states, schools, and taxpayers? In it, Jeff Spalding, our director of fiscal policy and analysis, addressed the following questions: -What is the proper way to measure school vouchers' fiscal impact? -Why are the fiscal effects of voucher programs so often misunderstood? -What are the annual and long-term fiscal impacts of school vouchers?

1. breaking down
THE SCHOOL
VOUCHER AUDIT
Do Publicly Funded Private School Choice
Programs Save Money?

2. School choice advocates have always used
the savings potential of vouchers as a
positive selling point.
@edchoice

3. Since the creation of the first voucher
program in 1990, six studies have examined
the fiscal impact of school choice on
taxpayers.
@edchoice

4. All six show school choice saves money for
taxpayers. None found a negative impact.
@edchoice

5. @edchoice
But still, that wealth of evidence hasn’t
stopped school choice opponents from
claiming otherwise.

6. “Myth 1: Vouchers save money”
-National Education Association
“Vouchers do not save taxpayer money”
-Americans United for Separation
of Church and State
“MYTH: Vouchers save taxpayers money”
@edchoice
-Education Voters of Pennsylvania

7. So what is getting lost in translation?
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8. Our Director of Fiscal Policy and Analysis...
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JEFF SPALDING
• Former Controller/Chief Financial
Officer for the City of Indianapolis
• Two-time Fantasy Football Champion
• Elton John Enthusiast
• Roger Federer Fan
• Dad of sixth-grader Elly

9. ...not only examined the fiscal impact of voucher programs...
Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program | Louisiana
Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program | Georgia
Educational Choice Scholarship Program | Ohio
Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship Program | Utah
Opportunity Scholarship Program | Washington, D.C.
Autism Scholarship Program | Ohio
Opportunity Scholarship Program | Florida
Cleveland Scholarship Program | Ohio
1990
2001
1995
2006
1992
2003
1997
2008
1991
2002
1996
2007
1993
2004
1998
2009
1994
2005
1999
2000
2010
@edchoice
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program | Wisconsin
John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program | Florida

10. ...he also walks through how he made each
calculation for full transparency.
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11. @edchoice
To make sense of a calculation,
first you’ve got to understand
what you’re calculating.

12. After all, the numbers alone don’t indicate
whether an outcome is good or bad.
@edchoice
10 4 6

13. Opponents claim, simplistically, that school choice
drains money from the public school system.
I do not support vouchers.
And the reason I don’t is
because I don’t think we
can afford to siphon dollars
away from our underfunded
public schools.”
-HILLARY CLINTON
@edchoice
“

14. @edchoice

15. @edchoice

16. That rhetoric obscures an important fact:
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A public school is also relieved of
the cost burden for any student
switching to private school.
$ • speech therapy
• remedial reading specialist
• all other standard
instructional costs
+

17. By not acknowledging such variable cost
savings, opponents implicitly argue that
all public school costs are “fixed.”
@edchoice

18. By that logic: If costs don’t go down when
a public school’s enrollment declines...
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19. ...costs wouldn’t go up when a public school’s
enrollment grows.
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Enrollment
Dollars
Revenue
Cost

20. One could argue school choice opponents
basically say the relationship between funding
and costs for instructing students looks like this:
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Enrollment
Dollars
Revenue
Cost

21. In actuality, the relationship between funding
and costs looks more like this.
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Enrollment
Dollars
Revenue
Cost

22. For a voucher program to result in savings,
this must be true:
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Per-Student Cost
Burden Removed
from Public School
Net Savings
Per Student
Cost of
Voucher

23. To determine whether that is the case for a
voucher program, use this equation:
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( Public School Cost Per Student
x
)
Number of Voucher Students ( Voucher Amount
x
)
Number of Voucher Students TOTAL NET SAVINGS

24. @edchoice
We did the math.

25. @edchoice
By taking their educational needs to
independent schools, voucher students
removed a cost burden of $4.5 billion
from public schools.
$4.5 billion ? ?

26. @edchoice
From 1990 to 2011, students received
$2.8 billion in voucher funds to attend
independent schools of their choice.
$4.5 billion $2.8 billion ?

27. @edchoice
You read that right.

28. Voucher programs saved $1.7 billion.
$4.5 billion $2.8 billion $1.7 billion
@edchoice

29. @edchoice
What happened to those savings?

30. Those funds are most commonly captured
by either the public school districts or the
state treasury, which can use them to:
1. invest in public schools,
2. invest in other priorities such as
@edchoice
law enforcement or healthcare,
3. lower total state spending,
4. build reserves, and/or
5. lower taxes

31. In fairness, however, some kids who use
vouchers are not diverted from public
schools. That is, they maybe could have
attended private school without a voucher.
@edchoice

32. But if a family’s financial hardship and
inability to get a voucher were to cause
parents to withdraw from private schools...
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33. ...already cash-strapped public
schools would be hit with the financial
responsibility of adding those kids to
classrooms and funding their education.
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34. With that in mind, wonder how much
more voucher programs could be saving?
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35. If vouchers would have been available to keep
private school enrollment steady from 1985 to
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2010, our country could have saved
$111 billion.

36. What has the U.S. education system accomplished instead?
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Additional Cost of Total U.S. Enrollment Shift to Public Schools
Private School Share of K-12 Enrollment
13%
12%
11%
10%
$16B
$14B
$12B
$10B
$8B
$6B
$4B
$2B
0
Private School
Enrollment Share
$222 billion cumulative additional
cost for public schools, over 25 years,
because of erosion in the private
school enrollment share
2009-10
2005-06
2001-02
1997-98
1993-94
1989-90
1985-86
2007-08
2003-04
1999-00
1995-96
1991-92
1987-88
School Year

37. If these numbers piqued your interest,
check out individual program breakdowns
@edchoice
and more in the full report at
edchoice.org/SchoolVoucherAudit