The Texas Tribune reports that private schools across the state are making expansion plans with the prospect of the legislature approving education savings accounts. One of the chief arguments against school choice, particularly in rural and low-income communities, is an insufficient supply of private schools. However, as the article demonstrates, if the demand for private schools increases, those schools will try to meet the demand.
One example is Promise Academy, a Christian private school in Tyler. Parents pay an average of $100 per month. Most students are black or Hispanic, with 94 percent coming from households considered low-income. The co-founder and head of school said, “Promise Academy is right now on a waitlist in two of our grade levels, and the desire to serve all those kids is there.”
Tellingly, critics of school choice fear that giving parents and students alternatives will lead to a rapid increase in private schools and an exodus from government schools. This argument is an implicit admission that there is a demand for private alternatives to government schools.
At the same time, many of those critics claim that most parents are happy with their child’s government school. If this is true, then the projected exodus won’t happen. If it isn’t true, then parents will be enabled to seek alternatives. And private schools will have a market for their services.
An example of private schools finding innovative ways to keep costs low is Second Baptist School in Houston. The school has six campuses, five of which operate under a hybrid model. Student attend in person classes three days a week and work remotely two days. The school’s head believes that if school choice is enacted, his enrollment would more than double.
Today, the supply of education services is dominated by government schools. This doesn’t mean that the demand for such schools exists. It means that most parents don’t have viable options—i.e., they can’t create a demand for private alternatives. To argue that an insufficient supply of private schools is a reason to oppose school choice while ignoring the cause is intellectually dishonest. An honest discussion of school choice requires us to consider the full context, including the reasons for an insufficient supply.