The education landscape is rapidly evolving as state policymakers enact and significantly expand private education choice initiatives. These initiatives, currently operating in 29 states and counting, provide public dollars directly to families to support approved educational purchases, including, but not always limited to, private school tuition.…

The U.S. Department of Education has projected enrollment declines over the next decade, leading to budget cuts for school districts, which will be particularly impactful in urban and rural areas serving vulnerable students. As federal COVID-19 funds expire, districts will face challenges in cutting costs, potentially leading to layoffs or school…

Reviews three recent Supreme Court decisions affecting public aid to private religious schools. The court found that all three cases violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. (MD)

The propositions for tuition tax credits have changed since the fifties. The current bill (SB 528), the major issues, and their implications are reviewed. (MD)

Argues that the United States Supreme Court's decisions disallowing direct aid to private, religious schools are inadequately supported by the Court's own opinions. (MD)

This report contains information on the participation of nonpublic school students in Chapter 1 programs. Regulations for Chapter 1 services require that all students have equitable access to them. In some school districts the nonpublic school population is not served because officials or parents of these schools do not want to participate. Since…

Three off campus private alternative schools have been supported, in part, by the Portland, Oregon, Public Schools. The students, mostly high school age, are largely dropouts or on the verge of dropping out of school. Many were referred because of behavior, attendance, or other discipline problems. At least half of the students in each school have…

Reviews the fiscal effects on 28 of the largest U.S. school districts of the shift in federal funding of education from categorical aid to block grants. Focuses on the longitudinal pattern of funding, the status of desegregation efforts, and the level of participation of private school students. (PGD)

This report looks at 78 privately funded voucher programs in New York City; Dayton, Ohio; and Washington, D.C. All three were longitudinal studies, tracking participants over 2 or 3 academic years. The programs shared numerous characteristics and faced common challenges, but they varied widely in the dollar amount of the vouchers they awarded and…

With the enactment of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) of 1981, private, nonprofit schools were rendered eligible to participate on an equitable basis in federally funded school programs. During the 1982-83 school year (the first year of ECIA Chapter 2) 44 private, nonprofit schools in the District of Columbia elected to…

Government policy on public support for private schools in Sweden, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, France and Malta, and Canada is reviewed. In Sweden virtually all schools are government schools funded by local and national grants; only a handful of private schools exist and they receive no government funds. The United…

Among 15 conclusions and recommendations resulting from the study of Florida State funding of private postsecondary institutions are the following: (1) contracting with independent institutions for existing academic programs should continue to serve the state as a cost-effective and efficient mechanism; (2) the policies and procedures for…

Reviews a Minnesota study of tax concessions to private school parents and provides an analysis of the strategy of constituency mobilization. The Minnesota experience shows that a mobilized, powerful issue constituency can enforce political accountability on the bargaining process and influence educational policy. Such single issue linkages…

Argues that the goal of quality education for every child requires fundamental change in the process of teaching and learning. Criticizes the treatment of educational choice as the most important single education reform because it does not improve the learning environment of every child. Encourages avoidance of state entanglement in religion. (DK)

Reviews the concept of governmental funding of private schools and whether this would be the means whereby unwanted and obstrusive regulations would be applied to those schools. Government funding in Spain, Malta, and France was the mechanism by which those governments extended control over church-related schools. (MD)