Mapping Private Schools in Houston: How Geography Mitigates Equality in Private School Choice Contexts

• In Event: Educational Privatization: Examining Contexts, Policies, and Partners

Abstract

State legislatures have increasingly turned to tax credit scholarships as a policy vehicle for providing public funding for students to enroll in private schools. Anticipating the passage of a tax credit scholarship bill in the Texas, this paper uses GIS and spatial analytics to understand how the location of private schools in the state’s largest city, Houston, may mitigate the policy’s potential to increase educational equity. This paper addresses two questions—first, how are the locations of private schools likely to impact enrollment among low-income students, Black students, and Latinx students? Second, is there reason to believe, given the location of Houston’s private schools, that the tax credit scholarship program will create market-driven improvement among low-performing public schools?

Author

• Jennifer Carol LaFleur, Brandeis University