Education Markets and Private School Missions: The Supply Side of the Tennessee School Voucher Plan

• In Event: School Voucher Policy and Implementation: Lessons From Indiana and Tennessee

Abstract

Objectives

Tennessee aims to pass a private school voucher plan in early 2014 for 20,000 low-income students from the lowest-performing public schools (bottom 5%) to transfer to participating, accredited private schools. Notably, over 80% of the “priority” low-performing schools and the economically disadvantaged students who qualify for vouchers are enrolled in the recently consolidated Shelby County Schools District. The Tennessee school voucher plan will make Memphis one of the largest targeted school voucher cities in the U.S.

Theoretical Framework

Research has focused on voucher outcomes that compare the academic achievement of voucher and non-voucher students (Barrow & Rouse, 2008; Wolf, 2010) and the differential economic impact of voucher programs on urban school districts (Figlio, 2009; Nechyba, 2000). Scant attention has been paid to the supply-side of voucher programs beyond identifying the categories of participating schools and sectors (secular or sectarian), or the reasons private schools accept or decline participation in voucher plans (Stuit & Doan, 2013). We argue that private school markets and mission characteristics define both supply side and demand side conditions by shaping the “geography of opportunity” (Briggs, 2005; Tate, 2008) and painting the landscape of authentic private school options for low-income voucher recipients.

Data & Methods

We examine the market and mission of private schools in a high poverty, predominantly non-white, urban school district (Memphis in Shelby County, TN). Specific foci are: 1) the academic, socio-demographic, and financial characteristics of participating/non-participating schools in the voucher program; 2) the organizational mission of participating/non-participating schools; and 3) the market mechanisms and competitive conditions that create (dis)incentives for participating in the TN voucher program.

This mixed-methods study involves in-person interviews with private school headmasters and administrative staff at 110 eligible voucher schools. Interviews probe the reasons for opting in/out of the voucher, support for economically disadvantaged students, accountability structures, and schools’ experiences working with low performing or high poverty students. Other data include school documents (mission statements, handbooks, annual reports) to analyze additional information related to market pressures, missions, and school organization. Additional data include school-level data from the Common Core of Data (CCD), census data on neighborhood- socio-demographic conditions, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping of transportation routes of targeted voucher students to participating private schools.

Results & Scholarly Significance

The Tennessee voucher plan raises new policy questions about market capacity, supply-side characteristics, and consequences. We find a distributional disconnect between the target of the Tennessee voucher plan—low performing, high poverty students currently enrolled in Memphis’ “high priority” schools—and the location and organizational mission of qualifying private schools. Our interviews with headmasters indicate low market pressures and limited organizational capacity to meet the academic needs of large numbers of low-performing students. Although prior research shows expansive participation of Catholic schools in places like Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Indiana (Nechyba, 2000; Stuit & Doan, 2013), Memphis is a unique private school market in which only 20% of the private schools are Catholic. The proposed Tennessee voucher policy reveals market and school mission mismatch, raising questions about the efficacy of the proposed plan.

Authors

• Claire E. Smrekar, Vanderbilt University

• Ngaire Honey, Vanderbilt University