Racial Segregation and the Private/Public School Choice

Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), I examine ethnic and racial patterns of private school attendance. I find that a high level of racial sorting occurs between the private and public school systems. At both the 8th and 10th grade levels, blacks and Hispanics are substantially less likely to attend private schools than are whites. I also find evidence that racial sorting between the private and public school systems is partly due to preferences over the racial composition of schools. In particular, I find that white and Hispanic students enroll in private schools in response to large concentrations of black students, although the underlying causes are unknown. I also examine whether ethnic and racial income disparities contribute to the large differences in private school attendance rates. I find that lower levels of income among black and Hispanic families contribute substantially to the underrepresentation of these two groups in the private school system. My estimates indicate that racial disparities in income levels explain 34.9 to 56.7 percent of the white/black gap in the private school attendance rate and 49.7 to 57.5 percent of the white/Hispanic gap in the private school rate. Finally, I find that whites attend private schools that are less integrated than public schools, and blacks and Hispanics attend private schools that are slightly more integrated than public schools. These findings can be interpreted as providing both evidence suggesting that vouchers will lead to increased segregation and evidence suggesting that vouchers will lead to decreased segregation. The finding of racially motivated flight from public schools into private schools suggests that the introduction of private school tuition vouchers may lead to more segregation as families have increased opportunities to enroll their children in homogenous schools. In contrast, the finding that racial differences in income explain a significant portion of the gap in private school rates suggests that vouchers directed towards low-income families may reduce this gap. A definitive answer, however, to whether private school vouchers will increase or decrease racial segregation in the nation's schools is only possible after several large-scale and long-term experimental programs are implemented and evaluated. I would like to thank Valerie Martinez-Ebers, Patrick McEwan, and participants at the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education Conference titled, "School Choice and Racial Diversity" for helpful comments and suggestions. The research was partly funded by a grant from the Spencer Foundation. The date presented, the statements made, and the views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author. Steve Anderson provided excellent research assistance.