SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAMS AND LOCATION CHOICES OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS

This paper studies how the school choice policies that subsidize private school attendance using public funds affect the spatial distribution of private schools in the United States. Private school choice programs enacted between 1997 and 2010 are examined and linked to private school provision 2 years later. The paper finds that school choice policies lead to more private schools where the input to public schools is lower and the pool of students with special needs is larger. Yet the introduction of means-tested school choice programs does not necessarily lead private schools to locate in low-income neighborhoods. (JEL I2, H4, R3)