Public Funding and Private Schooling across Countries

Production studies that have examined the relative performance of students in private and public schools typically find that the average student achievement in private schools exceeds that of the average student in public schools. The relatively small enrollment of students in private schools seriously limits policy predictions concerning the effects of vouchers and other policy reforms in the United States. The institutional arrangements for providing and funding schooling vary greatly across countries. This article examines these arrangements in five countries. Using a data set that measures achievement in mathematics, empirical results show that public funding and its subsequent effect of expanded enrollment in the private sector do not erase the superior performance of private schools relative to public ones. Government restrictions on private schools' decision-making powers can negate the superior performance of private schools. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.