How Members of Congress Practice School Choice

Parental Choice Survey of Members of Congress

In 2003, The Heritage Foundation conducted an anonymous survey of Members of Congress to determine how many practice private school choice. The results of the survey show that private school choice continues to be an important option for these elected leaders. (See Table 2.) It also remains a popular option for Members who serve on committees with jurisdiction over education legislation as well as those who represent minority populations.

Of those responding, the percentage of Members of Congress who send their children to private schools is disproportionate to that of the general populace:

• While only 10 percent of American students attend private schools, 41 percent of Representatives and 46 percent of Senators responded that they had sent children to private school;
• 45 percent of House Ways and Means Committee members and 31 percent of House Education and the Workforce Committee members exercised private school choice;
• 56 percent of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and 47 percent of Senate Finance Committee members exercised private school choice; and
• 29 percent of Congressional Black Caucus members and 46 percent of Congressional Hispanic Caucus members chose to send at least one child to private school.

The Heritage Foundation asked the staff of each Member of the House and Senate whether they have children and, if so, whether the children attend or have attended public or private schools. For purposes of survey tabulation, Members who have sent at least one child to private school at any time were judged to have exercised the private school option. Interviewers made three attempts to gain a response. If no response was given, data from the 2001 survey were used. If no data were available, the Member was included in the "No Response" category.³

Although Members of Congress are more likely to exercise private school choice than are other Americans, many of these lawmakers have not supported legislation that would enable other parents--particularly low-income parents who cannot afford to send their children to another school--to exercise that same option.

In the 107th Congress, the survey found similar results.⁴ In 2001, the House of Representatives voted down two amendments to give scholarships to children in low-performing or dangerous public schools so that they could attend better-performing independent schools under the No Child Left Behind Act. The Senate defeated a similar amendment. All three amendments would have passed if Members had voted in a way consistent with their own practices. Likewise, in the 2000 survey, if all those who practiced school choice had supported it for less-fortunate families, all three parental choice proposals would have passed.

Growing Public Support for School Choice

Although some Members of Congress continue to oppose legislation that would give disadvantaged and at-risk students the chance to succeed, public support is growing, particularly among minorities, for such programs. Moreover, existing programs enjoy a high level of parental satisfaction.

A poll conducted in July 2002 by Zogby International Polling on behalf of the Center for Education Reform found that 76 percent of respondents "strongly" or "somewhat" supported "providing parents with the option of sending their children to the school of their choice--either public, private, or parochial--rather than only to the school to which they are assigned." When asked specifically whether they were "in favor of or against allowing poor parents to be given the tax dollars allotted for their child's education and permitting them to use those dollars in the form of a scholarship to attend a private, public, or parochial school of their choosing," 63 percent of respondents favored the proposal. Rates of approval were even higher among minority respondents.⁵

A 2002 National Opinion Poll conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that 57.4 percent of African-American respondents favored a voucher system when asked, "Would you support a voucher system where parents would get money from the government to send their children to the public, private, or parochial school of their choice?"⁶

A July 2001 poll by the Latino Coalition and Hispanic Business Roundtable found that 73.3 percent of Hispanic adults answered "yes" when asked "should the government provide taxpayer-funded vouchers to help low-income families send their children to a better public, private, or church-run school?" An even larger percentage (87 percent) of respondents supported giving all parents a $1,000 tax credit for educational expenses, including tuition.⁷

Support is especially strong in the nation's capital. Shortly after former President Bill Clinton vetoed the D.C. Student Opportunity Scholarship Act of 1997, a bill similar to the current voucher legislation, The Washington Post published the results of a May 1998 poll of District residents that found significant support for using federal dollars to send children to private or religious schools: 65 percent of the District's African-Americans surveyed who had incomes under $50,000 favored the option. Overall, 56 percent of District residents supported school choice.⁸

The demand for choice is also evident in the city's higher-than-average charter school attendance and participation in private scholarship programs. There are hundreds of private schools in the D.C. metro area, most with tuitions that are less than the per-pupil expenditure in public schools.

Developments Since the Previous Survey

Since the previous Heritage Foundation survey, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld vouchers as constitutional.⁹ Before the first anniversary of the Court's decision, Colorado Governor Bill Owens signed into law the Colorado Opportunity Contract Pilot Program, which will provide vouchers to low-income students in low-performing school districts. Today, 11 states have enacted state-funded scholarship programs or tax credits for education expenses or contributions to scholarship funds.¹⁰

New research on the efficacy of parental choice confirms older findings that students do as well or better at their new schools, parents are more satisfied, and public schools improve with competition.

According to research conducted by Harvard University professor Paul Peterson, the academic achievement of low-income African-American students who received scholarships offered by the School Choice Scholarships Foundation (SCSF) rose significantly. African-American students who participated in the program for three years had scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills that were 9.2 percentile points higher than the scores of students who remained in the public schools. Students who participated in the program for fewer than three years also experienced gains. The study also found that parents were significantly more satisfied with their children's new schools.¹¹

A 2003 Manhattan Institute analysis of the Florida A+ program found that vouchers provided a strong incentive for schools to improve. In Florida, schools receive grades ranging from A to F, based on the proportion of students who pass the state's proficiency tests. Students who attend schools that receive a failing grade twice within a four-year period can receive a voucher to attend another public or private school of choice. Researchers found that schools in direct competition for students made educational gains greater than those of other low-performing schools that are not facing voucher competition.¹²

Harvard professor Caroline Hoxby also found that increased school choice raises school productivity and student achievement within the public school system. Hoxby's report found that competition from charter schools in Michigan and Arizona and from Milwaukee's voucher program has compelled public schools to raise their productivity, as measured by students' achievement gains.¹³

Conclusion

In the near future, the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to vote on amendment to the D.C. appropriations bill modeled after the committee-passed D.C. Parental Choice Incentive Act introduced by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA). The proposal would enable low-income parents in the District of Columbia to enroll their children in private schools through a scholarship program. Under the bill, the maximum scholarship is $7,500, and $15 million is authorized for the program.

If every member of the House of Representatives who practices private school choice votes with supporters of school choice to extend the same access to disadvantaged students in the District of Columbia, the amendment will pass. It will likewise pass in the Senate if those who practice choice vote for it.

Frustrated parents and other residents, as well as prominent elected leaders such as Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and School Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz, are calling on Congress to pass this legislation. Despite a per-pupil expenditure of over $12,000 and a pupil-teacher ratio of 15 to 1, D.C. students continue to fall behind. Less than 10 percent of the District's 8th grade students are proficient in reading, math, and science according to national assessments, and more than half lack even a basic knowledge of these subjects.¹⁴

A similar proposal was passed in 1998 under the leadership of former Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) and Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), and Judd Gregg (R-NH). Speaking of the need for a scholarship program, Senator Lieberman stated:

We believe that we have a moral obligation to offer those children a way out. That is why many of us view this question not just as a matter of education, but a question of fairness. This is all about our values, specifically the value we place on giving every child--no matter their income, where they live or how they live--the opportunity to fulfill their God-given promise.¹⁵

Congress will soon have a new opportunity to support these children and give to them what they give their own children--a chance to succeed.

Krista Kafer is Senior Policy Analyst for Education and Jonathan Butcher is Research Assistant for Domestic Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Heritage Foundation interns Alex Potapov, Ellie Bradsher, and Bob Nardo contributed to this report.