Private Schools Cost Less Than You May Think

CATO ^ | September 8, 2003 | David Salisbury

[jimkress]

Vouchers, tuition tax credits, and scholarships are being awarded in a growing number of states and big cities as a way of allowing more children to attend private schools, rather than government-operated public schools. Wherever these programs are implemented, critics claim that vouchers or tax credits won't give children from poor families access to private schools because the costs of such schools are high. But are private schools really prohibitively expensive? Not according to the numbers.

The most recent figures available from the U.S. Department of Education show that in 2000 the average tuition for private elementary schools nationwide was $3,267. Government figures also indicate that 41 percent of all private elementary and secondary schools -- more than 27,000 nationwide -- charged less than $2,500 for tuition. Less than 21 percent of all private schools charged more than $5,000 per year in tuition. According to these figures, elite and very expensive private schools tend to be the exception in their communities, not the rule.

Many people may think private schools are expensive because the costlier private schools also tend to be the most well known. For example, many in Houston have heard about St. John's or Tenney High School, where tuition runs over $13,000 a year. But fewer Houstonians have likely heard of Southeast Academy, Woodward Acres, or Pecan Street Christian Academy, all of which charge less than $3,000 per year, well below the city's private school average of $4,468.

Average private school tuition in other cities tells the same story: a large number of moderately priced private schools with a few very expensive, well-known exceptions. Median private elementary school tuition in Denver is $3,528. In Charleston, $3,150. In Philadelphia, $2,504. In New Orleans, $2,386.

Anthony Williams, mayor of the District of Columbia (where Congress is considering a school voucher program with voucher amounts of up to $7,500), recently stated, mistakenly, that "most private school tuitions run in the five figures -- far beyond what is contemplated for the voucher program."

In truth, according to a recent survey, the median per student cost for private elementary schools in the District of Columbia is $4,500, well below the mayor's "five figures." Only 39 percent of D.C. private schools have tuitions of $10,000 or more.

In all of these cities, the average private school cost is significantly less than the amount spent for each student in public schools. A voucher or tax credit worth the same amount spent per student in public schools would easily give parents access to the bulk of private schools available in their communities. With more parents able to afford private schools, new schools would open to accommodate the increased number of students.

In Florida, where students can attend private schools under several choice programs, the number of private schools in the state is increasing as school choice programs become more predominant. The percentage of Florida students enrolled in private schools has risen from 9.31 percent in 1992 to 12.5 percent in 2001. According to the Florida Department of Education, 353 new private schools have opened their doors since May 2000. Private entrepreneurs and philanthropic foundations have poured more than $76 million into Milwaukee's private schools since school choice was implemented there. This growth in private schools underscores the fact that the private education sector responds to increased consumer demand.

Existing school choice programs have already provided evidence of the benefits of school choice both for those students that switch to better schools and for those who stay in public schools. Studies in Florida, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Arizona, and Michigan have all shown that, in areas where school choice is available, public schools, in one way or another, improve in significant ways, including test scores and parental involvement.

Fostering a more competitive market in education is critical if the quality of education in inner cities and elsewhere is to be improved. Government monopolies -- and that includes public schools -- tend to serve many or most of their clients poorly, especially in a large and diverse society. Giving parents access to a growing, affordable, and diverse supply of private schools will help ensure that the current generation of American children receives a quality education.

[jimkress]

Just say NO to government schools!

[NativeNewYorker]

I pay $18,000+ for my third grader and $12,000+ for my nursury schooler...which will jump to $18,000+ when she
hits kindergarten next year. Worth every freepin' penny.

[Sparta]

Just say NO to government schools!

BTTT

[anniegetyourgun]

"The percentage of Florida students enrolled in private schools has risen from 9.31 percent in 1992 to 12.5 percent in 2001. According to the Florida Department of Education, 353 new private schools have opened their doors since May 2000."

A direct response to the lousy service the government is providing, all too often resulting in an incompetent product.

[Congressman Billybob]

My latest column for the Internet, which will also be posted tomorrow on FreeRepublic, deals with the precise subject of the D.C. voucher plan, now before the Senate. The bottom line is that there is no correlation between the amount of money spent and the academic results achieved.

D.C. is eighth highest in per student spending. It is tied for last with Mississippi in poorest academic achievement. D.C. is the ideal test case to show that government schools need and deserve effective competition. That's why the "edukashun" unions are pulling out all the stops to kill this plan.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "We Are Running for Congress -- Maybe," discussion thread on FR.

[netmilsmom]

I had an tiff with a lady who said she is not for vouchers because she will never pay for instruction of religion. I tried to use the "It's my money" routine. She countered with, "You don't pay enough in taxes to cover the cost." She backed me into a corner. What should I have answered?

[Clemenza]

Private School Ping!

[HanneyBean]

I'm a single mother who pays $3,200/year at a private Christian school.
I make approx. $28,000/year salary.
I tell ALL my married friends starting a family that if I can do it, ANYONE can do it.
Some people think nothing of paying $800 on a fancy car payment, but will keep their children in publik skool. Guess it's a matter of priorites...

[finnman69]

God I love NY.

[Clemenza]

After seeing the future Riker's inmates pouring out of Fort Hamilton High School and terrorizing Bay Ridge at 2:30, I can't see how ANYONE would want to send their kids to a New York Publik Skool. Even in the affluent South Florida burg where my parents reside, Publik Edyoucashion is a joke.

It'll be Montessori for my kids (if I ever have any).

[CO_dreamer]

I think that depends which voucher program you are talking about. Most voucher programs today are geared towards the poor, and it's very unlikely poor families could pay private school tuition without vouchers. It's also very unlikely they pay enough in taxes to cover the cost. Those voucher programs are basically govt sponsored charity to the poor.

If you are talking about universal vouchers, that's a different story.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[Fzob]

Guess it's a matter of priorites...

Yeap.

[mikesmad]

Tell her between your taxes, both sets of grandparents taxes, aunts and uncles, that do not have grade school children, taxes, and depending on your age great grandparents taxes, your family pays more than enough to cover the "cost". Also tell her that your friends that homeschool yet still pay taxes are helping to covering the "cost".

[NativeNewYorker]

Montessori looks good on paper, but I've never, and I do mean never, met someone in professional life who went through that system.

[lilylangtree]

Son went to a private university. Cost me through the nose. I'm still paying it off as well as he is too. He rec'd a good education. However, was the debt worth it given the present circumstances? Debatable!

[aardvark1]

Less than 21 percent of all private schools charged more than $5,000 per year in tuition.

Here in the People's Rebulik of VT, our free publik edyoukashun costs over $7000 per stugent.

I want more, more, more...

[NC Conservative]

Some people think nothing of paying $800 on a fancy car payment, but will keep their children in publik skool. Guess it's a matter of priorites...

I drive a Piece of #$%^ so my sons can go to a private Christian school. That makes me happier than any damn car. Get your kids out of the government gutters. Send them to private school. Do what you have to.

[EdReform]

"Vouchers, tuition tax credits, and scholarships are being awarded in a growing number of states and big cities as a way of allowing more children to attend private schools, rather than government-operated public schools."

IN YOUR FACE, NEA!!

[Clemenza]

Most Montessori graduate I know became academics, although I know one engineer who is also a Montessori alumnus.

What's the Rep on Dalton these days?

[NativeNewYorker]

Dalton is top-notch academically, heavily over-represented in Ivy placements. Politically, it is very PC, and aesthetically, the kids dress the way I did in the 70s, ie, like slobs. :)

[Clemenza]

Dalton is top-notch academically, heavily over-represented in Ivy placements. Politically, it is very PC

Phillips Bend-Over, er, Andover is much the same way, albeit in a rural setting.

The U of Chicago Lab School was as lefty as they come (I lived nearby while in Grad School, and talked to many parents) but the academic standards were top notch and they encouraged critical thinking. I understand they now have a conservative student group as well.

[CdMGuy]

It doesn't matter how much poor people pay in taxes. The state and local governments are already paying to educate poor children in public schools. Here in California, public schools get so much per pupil per day of attendance. On a school year basis, it adds up to over $7,000 per pupil as I recall.

So, if the state offered a voucher for $4,000, that student would no longer attend public school, the public school would no longer get so much per day for that student. In theory, the taxpayer would save about $3,000 per year if the student left the $7,000 public school for a $4,000 private school.

Of course, the teachers' union would be demanding that the state pay the $3,000 savings to the school, or even more outrageously continue to pay the school the full $7,000 even though the student is no longer there. But that is a different battle to fight.

[AlanSC]

Well, I just enrolled my daughter in a Montessori preschool (she will be four next month) and I can let you know how it goes. At the orientation, they said they use a phonics program for teaching and to expect the kids to be reading within a couple of months. From the little I've seen, it seems like a good choice that will lay down a great foundation.

[EuroFrog]

The taxes you will pay in your lifetime will more than cover 18 years of private education costs.

Not to mention, your children having a better education, will hopefully have better paying jobs than your average public school joe, will also pay higher amounts in taxes than their public school peers.

It makes sense to me anyway.

[EuroFrog]

Oh oh!!! And since social security will be bankrupt by the time you retire (of course, that depends on your age) you might as well get a chunk of that money now.

[EuroFrog]

We are currently stationed in Germany so my oldest (7yr in the 2nd grade) unfortunately goes to a DoDDS school. We come back stateside somewhere between Feb and June, you can bet your boppers I will do anything short of selling my ass to put him and my daughter (3) into private school.

[MalcolmS]

>>>What should I have answered? <<<

You could have said . . .

My kids will go to school for 13 years each. I will pay property taxes for my entire life. Over time, I will pay for their tuition 5X over (or whatever is appropriate--I guess this won't be true if you have a dozen kids).

[rmlew]

It is a "progressive" school. Virtually every wacky idea that comes out of Columbia Teacher's College is tested at Dalton. Of course the kids at Dalton all have tutors so the damage is limited.

There are far better private schools in NYC:
Trinity, Collegiate (I went there), Horace Mann, Spence, Chapin and Brearley are all academically superior.
Riverdale, Fieldston, Nightingale, are on par with Dalton, but are not as famous. (Fieldston/Ethical Culture is the country day school equivalent of Dalton)
1/3 to 1/2 of the Kids get into Ivy League Schools. In fact the top NYC schools are in the top 10 national ones.
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/urban/education/features/1510/
Here is a list of the private High Schools in NYC
http://www.scoreraiser.com/private_school_list.htm

http://www.questmag.com/schools.html

[cyberaxe]

.....send-em south.....

.....FUMA.....

[MEGoody]

"You don't pay enough in taxes to cover the cost."

Did she show you how she figured this? Because she's wrong.

[Centurion2000]

She countered with, "You don't pay enough in taxes to cover the cost

ANYONE owning a house is paying for it.

[Maigrey]

But you do. You should point out the costs associated with sending your kids to social indoctrination centers.

[vikingcelt]

Montessori does look good on paper but in practice it's something else. My granddaughter started going to Montessori when she was 3 so she was in pre-school for about 3 years there. When it came time for first grade it became obvious that it was not the right choice. I found a private girl's school for her and that's where she's been going ever since and doing very, very well there. The problem is that it only goes through 5th grade (she's in 4th grade now) so after that I don't know what will happen. I've been paying her tuition (about $10,500 a year) but I can't afford to pay that anymore after next year.

[NativeNewYorker]

The imbalance between the demand for and supply of quality educational venues is depressing.

[netmilsmom]

Thanks everyone!
I was put on the spot and didn't know what to say. Great answers!

[Spyder]

Youch! And I thought Hawaii was bad. Our most expensive elite schools here are around 11K per year through 12th grade (Punahou, Iolani, and Mid Pacific).

My kids attend an excellent nondenominational Christian school for about 5K each per year (One high school freshman, one senior) and they could go to our own church school (but with an awful commute) for about 3K.

[finnman69]

Dalton is top-notch academically, heavily over-represented in Ivy placements. Politically, it is very PC, and aesthetically, the kids dress the way I did in the 70s, ie, like slobs. :)

That's how it was when I graduated Dalton in the late 80's. We had 60 out of 110 graduate to Ivy league colleges. Great academics, creepy spoiled kids. it's a trade off. Personally I hold a lot more respect for my 1-9 school, Allen-Stevenson with it's dress code, and non PC environment.

[finnman69]

Of course the kids at Dalton all have tutors so the damage is limited.

I remember a lot of the kids had therapists also. Wealthy angst as well as the Mercedes's, limos, and other drivers picking up kids after school.

[So Cal Rocket]

Anyone familiar with private schools that use the Carden method? I'm sending my pre-K daughter to a Carden school this year and was wondering if any one of my Freeper Friends had any experience with them.

[vikingcelt]

No, sorry. I've never heard of the Carden method. Good luck with it.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

a lady who said she is not for vouchers because she will never pay for instruction of religion

. . . and you replied that it isn't up to her to decide that the kids are to be taught to disrespect her parents and their religious convictions. No matter how rich she is, and no matter how much tax she pays--or says she favors paying.

It's right and proper that educators be subject to a religious test--the test that of acceptability to the child's parents, not some busybody voter who doesn't even know the child, much less suffer the consequeces of the child's time and enthusiasm lost to pedagogic incompetence and futility.

The education must be for the child, and not the child for the education. But the child is not competent to define his/her own educational needs, and the government is not entitled to control the child's religious instruction. The child's parents, and only the child's parents, rightly have that authority. Her taxes do not buy the right to have any say in the matter at all.

She is demanding that the government subject educators to a religious test in direct violation of the doctrine of seperation of church and state (not to mention the First Amendment to the Constitution </sarcasm>).

[Spirited]

"D.C. is eighth highest in per student spending. It is tied for last with Mississippi in poorest academic achievement. D.C. is the ideal test case to show that government schools need and deserve effective competition

Needed repeating.
Every gathering should have a sign with that legend on it. People are brainwashed on the subject. Homeschooling results should have taught us better but blinders and media effects keep the public from recognizing how wasteful we are with tax dollars.

Now that the Feds are into it it will get worse.

[Capt.YankeeMike]

Wow. That hurts, but youre right, its worth it. I have my two sons at Chapel Hill Christian, Indianapolis. $2400.00 per year a piece. Sure you dont want to move to the midwest??? LOL
The WILY ol Capt.

[netmilsmom]

I did tell her that she has no right to say how my children would be educated, then she came back with the "I don't pay enough taxes to cover it."
I forgot that I did not have my first daughter until 1997, she started school in 2002. I have owned a home since 1989. I have more than paid for both of my daughters education (one doesn't start for two more years-I pay 4000.00 in taxes per year).

[lepton]

ANYONE owning a house is paying for it.

Anyone RENTING a house is also paying for it.

[Clemenza]

It is a "progressive" school. Virtually every wacky idea that comes out of Columbia Teacher's College is tested at Dalton. Of course the kids at Dalton all have tutors so the damage is limited.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the otherwise lackluster Hugo Sonnenschein administration was the abolition of the School of Education at the U of C. It made Colombia Teacher's College look like Bob Jones University.

[brianl703]

As is anyone renting, since landlords generally don't eat the cost of property taxes.

[jwalsh07]

My oldest grandaughter started Catholic School this year. Her tutition is 2200 bucks and when her sister is old enough her tuition will be half of that. A group discount thing. Plus the church applies up to 500 dollars in your weekly contributions to offset the price.

The education they will recieve there is head and shoulders above the public school that both my daughters attended.

They had to take remedial courses their first year of college just to keep up. My mistake and as pennance I have made a promise to myself that as long as I can get to work my daughters and their husbands will have all the help they need sending them to Christain Schools. Unfortunately for me my other daughter has triplets who will be starting school in two years.

LOL

[scottlang]

My wife is an educator, I am in IT, we have both decided that hanged be the cost our children will go to a private Christian school. I will not inflict public school on my kids.