Segregation Levels in Cleveland Public Schools and the Cleveland Voucher Program. School Choice Issues in the State

Examining the widespread claims that private schools have high segregation levels and vouchers will lead to greater segregation, this study finds that both assertions are empirically unsupportable. Private schools participating in Cleveland's voucher program are much less segregated than Cleveland's public schools. This means that students using the voucher program are gaining access to a more integrated school experience. The study also examines segregation levels nationwide and finds no substantial difference between public and private schools. While these findings are descriptive rather than causal, they are sufficient to show that the claims made by opponents of voucher programs are without any empirical foundation. Private schools participating in Cleveland's voucher program were 18 points less segregated than Cleveland public schools on the segregation index, which compares the racial composition of schools to the racial composition of school-age children in the greater metropolitan area. In the nation's 100 largest metro areas, the difference between segregation levels in public and private schools is trivial--less than two points on the segregation index. (Contains 2 tables and 30 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and The Buckeye Institute.]