Not-so-free markets? The impact of educational privatization and marketization through school choice on attitudes towards government taxation and spending and on public finance

Mark Chin

Over 30 percent of families attend a K-12 school that is not their neighborhood public option, and this number continues to grow as policymakers expand "school choice" with private school vouchers and charter school authorization. Proponents argue that schools of choice can improve outcomes through competitive effects and because they have the operational flexibility to provide tailored educational experiences. But theoretically the "privatization" or "marketization" of education through school choice reforms can have negative impacts on educational outcomes and equality‚ by decreasing community enthusiasm for public services and the tax policies that fund them and, subsequently, by weakening the fiscal health of school districts and other municipal governments. In this proposed project, I provide the first causal evidence on how expanded school choice through vouchers and charter schools impacts individuals' attitudes towards government taxation and spending, the revenues and expenditures of districts and other governing bodies, and the downstream school operations (e.g., school closures) tied to district finance that matter for student outcomes. For analyses I create a unique dataset collating these myriad outcomes in Indiana, where in 2011, state elected officials greatly expanded school choice by implementing a new voucher program and by creating additional charter school authorizers.

About Mark Chin

Mark J. Chin is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Inequality in the Peabody College of Education & Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Applying causal quantitative methods through an interdisciplinary lens, Dr. Chin studies school integration, school choice, racial bias in education, and how schools help to develop justice-oriented youth. His research is motivated by the belief that key to addressing persistent disparities in society is uncovering how schools might reduce negative outgroup prejudices, increase prosociality, and foster widespread commitment to advancing equity. To support this work, he has been generously funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the American Educational Research Association, in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Dr. Chin's research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Educational Research Journal, the Economics of Education Review, Educational Researcher, the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and the Journal of Urban Economics. He received his PhD in Education from Harvard University in 2022.