Private School Location and Neighborhood Characteristics

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the relationship between private school location and the local public school and neighborhood characteristics. Using data from Illinois, I find statistically significant positive relationships between the number of private schools in 1998 and average 3rd grade class size in the public schools, the percent of the population that is college educated and the percent of persons over 55 years of age. In addition, I find significant negative relationships between private school counts and average household income and an index of racial concentration. Looking at counts of private school entry, areas with larger increases in the school-aged population had less entry on average while areas with increasing income dispersion experienced greater entry. Considering these results, one can think about how access to private schools may differ across children even when granted educational vouchers. While the introduction of vouchers is not observed in the data, the race and income heterogeneity results suggest that children living in more diverse communities are more likely to have ready access to private schools if given the opportunity to use a school voucher.