School choice opponents make lots of demonstrably false claims. Some of the flimsiest concern the accessibility of private schools.
To hear opponents tell it private schools are too expensive, too rare outside of urban areas and downright racist in their admissions standards.
Wrong, wrong and wrong — especially as it relates to the current conversation around Promise Scholarship accounts.
First, let’s remember private school tuition is not the only allowable use of the proposed Promise Scholarships. Families could also purchase a homeschooling curriculum, certain therapies, transportation to school and more.
(An aside: That’s why it’s false to conflate Promise Scholarships with “vouchers,” which are merely coupons redeemable for tuition. Opponents use the V-word not because it’s accurate, but because of its negative connotation.)
But many claims by opponents of the scholarships relate to private school, so I’m evaluating them anyway. To do so, I used data from the website Private School Review. Here’s what I found.
Claim: Private schools are too expensive for low-income families, even with school-choice programs.
Yes, Atlanta’s elite private schools can set you back $20,000 or more per year in tuition. But they’re the exception, not the rule, among private schools — just like most hotels provide a perfectly good service without charging as much as the Ritz-Carlton. According to Private School Review, the average tuition for a private school in Georgia is $11,040.
Even that...
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