School Choice and Privatization Efforts: A Legislative Survey.

Recently, legislators have become interested in school privatization as a tool to increase educational choices, introducing more than 400 bills related to privatization during the 1998 session. The education privatization movement is a compilation of many different efforts to expand the role of private schools in education. The efforts include using public funds directly through grants or scholarships, and indirectly through tax incentives. Through a survey of legislation and a review of available literature, this paper details the current state of privatization efforts. Data collection included a search of the StateNet database (a private database of all bills introduced during the current session in every state legislature and Congress). The search turned up 452 bills related to choice, vouchers, tax credits, and charter schools. The bills identified were categorized by reform, content, sponsor, sponsor's party affiliation, party control of legislature and governor's office, and final status (passed, failed, or vetoed). This report presents an overview of the legislation, then offers case examinations from Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Virginia. An appendix defines relevant terms. (Contains 47 references.) (SM)