The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice recently released the latest in its School Survey Series—this installment features data compiled on Ohio’s private schools. Because private schools are less regulated than public schools, there’s a dearth of information available. What does exist is largely demographic in nature or the result of surveys voluntarily completed by school leaders. The Friedman report uses a combination of data from the U.S. Department of Education (survey) and the Ohio Department of Education (demographic), most of it presented in terms of percentages. While there are some differences between the two sets of numbers, no matter how you slice it, the numbers of private schools and students have declined over the years. The annual federal surveys show average enrollment in private schools was 245 students in 2011–12, down from a peak of 272 students in the 1995–96 school year. And the demographic makeup of private schools is shifting as well. From 2005–06 to 2011–12, the number of black private school students increased by 3 percent, while their share of the public school population moved downward—likely a result of the state’s myriad voucher initiatives. In 2014–15, nearly half of Ohio’s private schools are registered to accept students in the largest voucher program, the EdChoice Scholarship. However, many of those schools report to ODE that they are not operating at full capacity, and author Andrew Catt’s analysis of the self-reported numbers suggests that as many as 36,794 currently open seats could theoretically be filled with scholarship students. If filled, this would triple the number of vouchers in use and nearly reach the statutory cap of 60,000. Finding students to fill those seats is harder than it appears, especially since Ohio’s income-based EdChoice program is being phased in only a grade at a time. All in all, this snapshot of Ohio’s private school sector is good information for the media, advocates, and policymakers to have as they contemplate changes to the state’s private school and voucher laws.
SOURCE: Andrew D. Catt, “Exploring Ohio’s Private Education Sector,” The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice (December 2014).
