Parent Preferences and Constraints: Evidence from School Choice in Denver Public Schools

• In Event: 060 - Regular Session. School Choice and Educational Inequality

Abstract

In many cities across the country, families have the ability to choose where to send their children to school from among a variety of public schools, including traditional district-run and charter schools. But to make these choices, parents often must fill out multiple application forms and navigate different deadlines and selection procedures. Such fragmented enrollment systems create transaction costs and inequities that make choosing harder for parents---particularly for those with more limited time and resources. In response, some cities have adopted unified enrollment systems to manage public school enrollments under a single, comprehensive system. While unified enrollment systems have the potential to facilitate school choice more effectively and equitably, little research has examined the implications of these systems for parents’ preferences and school choice outcomes. This study draws on comprehensive enrollment and school application data to explore the implications of one common enrollment system in Denver. I find that three years of common enrollment have done little to change the composition of families that exercise school choice. I also find that families encounter trade-offs between school quality and proximity when they sit down to choose schools for their children, and that such trade-offs are disproportionately concentrated among nonwhite and lower socioeconomic status families.

Author

• Patrick Anthony Denice, University of Washington