EdChoice — A Reason to Rejoice? An Analysis of Competitive Effects of School Voucher Programs in Ohio

Authors

Jakob Danninger, Case Western Reserve UniversityFollow
Sidharth Jindal, Case Western Reserve UniversityFollow
Laura Harris, Case Western Reserve UniversityFollow
Nathaniel Page, Case Western Reserve UniversityFollow

Abstract

Ohio’s school choice voucher program, known as the EdChoice Scholarship, has been highly controversial since its inception and the recent 2023 expansion has reignited debates. The economic rationale for this policy is that increased competitive pressure creates higher performing public schools. Previous research has found that Florida public schools performed slightly better due to the competitive effects of school choice vouchers. We use data from the Ohio Department of Education and Google Maps API over the years 2009-2018 to estimate the competitive effects of eligible private schools on public school performance after the 2013 income-based EdChoice expansion. This is achieved using a two-way fixed effects model that predicts state exam performance using the number of voucher eligible competitors in a 5 miles radius. Contrary to popular assumptions, we find that increased competitive pressure spurred by the expansion predicts a decrease in school performance. Our findings suggest that the negative effects of losing high-performing students and having diminished spending capabilities due to total lower enrollment overpower the positive effects that increased competition has on school performance.

Recommended Citation

Danninger, Jakob; Jindal, Sidharth; Harris, Laura; and Page, Nathaniel (2024) "EdChoice — A Reason to Rejoice? An Analysis of Competitive Effects of School Voucher Programs in Ohio," Case Western Reserve University Journal Of Economics: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://commons.case.edu/joe/vol2/iss1/3