Center on Privatization Examines the Economics of Education

The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, directed by Dr. Henry Levin, is an independent research center that provides information on and analysis of privatization in education. In addition to its evaluation and publication activities, the Center holds conferences and disseminates information on national and international issues of privatization, from pre-kindergarten through higher education. Topics of special focus include charter schools, voucher programs, private schools, for-profit schools, homeschooling, and tuition tax credits.

Last week, the Center released a new publication authored by Shana Kennedy-Salchow, “An Analysis of Florida's Voluntary Pre-K Program,” a report on the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Program created in Florida in January 2005; the program allows parents of four-year-old children to choose and approved Pre-K service provider. The program is considered a voucher program because public schools, non-profits and for-profit agencies, and sectarian institutions can compete for students and their vouchers. The study examines the VPK program using four criteria – freedom of choice, productive efficiency, equity, and social cohesion – and analyzes the criteria through the policy instruments of regulation, finance, and support services. It concludes that the Florida VPK program seems to favor the goals of freedom of choice and efficiency over equity and social cohesion.

In addition to allowing access to its many publications, the Center's website provides other valuable resources for understanding privatization and staying up-to-date with recent developments. For ready reference, concise documents address basic questions about education privatization; book reviews and policy briefings are also provided. The website links to outside advocacy and policy organizations representing the spectrum of positions on privatization and highlights significant daily news items on education.

Dr. Levin is the William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the David Jacks Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Economics at Stanford University. He is also chairing a symposium at Teachers College on the Social Costs of Inadequate Education on October 24-25, 2005, which brings together over a dozen prominent economists to discuss the extent of educational inequities and the magnitude and consequences of social costs imposed when major segments of society are poorly educated.

Prepared by Katherine Lu, September 28, 2005