Private vs. Public Schools

 Private versus public! It's a debate that rages across the playgrounds and living rooms of America. In fact, according to a 2009 GreatSchools and Harris Interactive poll, The Great Recession has had nearly one in four parents thinking about switching their child's school, either from private to public or public to private.

Private vs. Public Education
A matter-of-fact look at the great debate

By GreatSchools Staff
Edited by Amy Crelly

So, which is right for your child? And how can you compare the two? (Isn’t that a bit like comparing apples and oranges?) As any parent who has toured both knows, it's not always easy to answer these questions. Some people assume that private schools offer superior everything, justifying their tuition costs. Others contend that public schools provide more real-life experiences or, in some cases, more-developed specialty programs, like athletics.

While this primer won't dare takes sides, it will touch on the most fundamental differences between public and private schools—as well as a few subtle distinctions that might make all the difference for your child.

The bottom line
The most obvious discrepancy between public and private schools comes down to cold, hard cash. The good news for parents is that public schools cannot charge tuition. The bad news is that public schools are complicated, often underfunded operations influenced by political winds and shortfalls. Financed through federal, state, and local taxes, public schools are part of a larger school system, which functions as a part of the government and must follow the rules and regulations set by politicians.

In contrast, private schools must generate their own funding, which typically comes from a variety of sources: tuition; private grants; and fundraising from parents, alumni, and other community members. If the school is associated with a religious group, the local branch may provide an important source of funding as well.

For parents the drawbacks of private education include tuition costs and (sometimes) a work calendar of parent-sponsored fundraisers. According to the National Association of Independent Schools, the median tuition for their member private day schools in 2008-2009 in the United States was $17,441. (Of the 28,384 private schools in the United States, about 1,050 are affiliated with the NAIS. Average tuition for nonmember schools is substantially less: $10,841 for day schools.)

The potential benefits of private schools accrue from their independence. Private schools do not receive tax revenues, so they do not have to follow the same sorts of regulations and bureaucratic processes that govern (and sometimes hinder) public schools. This allows many private schools to be highly specialized, offering differentiated learning, advanced curriculum, or programs geared toward specific religious beliefs.

The admissions game
Another obvious distinction between public and private schools results from their respective admissions procedures. By law, public schools must accept all children. In many cases, enrolling your child involves little more than filling out a few forms and providing proof of your address to the local school district office. In practice, however, getting your child into the public school of his or her choice can be much more complicated.

Because not all public schools have resources for helping students with special needs, enrolling a child with a learning disability or other disorder may entail a more complex process. Similarly, in school districts with "school choice" policies, the procedure for finding a public school may require that parents enter a lottery to gain admission for their child into their top pick. Finally, at the high school level, many districts in larger metropolitan areas offer special schools with competitive enrollment based on students' GPAs or artistic portfolios.

Private schools, by their very definition, are selective. They are not obligated to accept every child, so getting admitted may involve in-depth applications with multiple interviews, essays, and testing. Because private schools define the identity of their communities, they often pick and choose between candidates based not only on their scholastic achievement but also their ethnicity and religious background — as well as the special attributes (or assets) of their parents.

Teachers, curriculum, and class size
While most people assume that teachers at private schools are as qualified as those at public ones, it's important to note that all teachers in a public school are usually state certified or, at a minimum, working toward certification. Certification ensures that a teacher has gone through the training required by the state. Teachers in private schools may not be required to have certification. Instead, they may have subject-area expertise and an undergraduate or graduate degree in the subject they teach.

There's a similar discrepancy between curriculum development in private and public schools. Public schools must follow state guidelines that set out specific standards and assessment procedures. In theory, this creates a certain amount of quality control. Private schools, on the other hand, can choose whatever curriculum and assessment model they wish. This freedom to design their own curriculum or avoid standardized tests can result in higher standards for students — or lower.

While local parents and schools recognize the value of small classes, particularly in grades K-3, California’s budget woes have set back efforts to limit (let alone shrink) class sizes in public schools. Our state’s public school classrooms are, in fact, the most overcrowded in the nation according to several recent studies.

While many private schools provide small classes with low student-to-teacher ratios, class size can vary from school to school, grade to grade, and year to year.

Special needs
Due to special education laws, public schools must educate all children and provide the necessary programs to meet their special needs. This means that all school districts have special education programs and teachers who are trained to work with special-needs students.

Private schools do not have to accept children with special needs, and many choose not to (although there are private schools designed for special-needs children). As a result, most private schools do not have special education programs or teachers trained to work with that student population. Some private schools will try to help all the students they admit, but extra resources may come at an additional cost. Other private schools practice something called "counseling out"—recommending that children with learning disabilities look elsewhere.

Testing, testing!
Private school students typically score higher than public school students on standardized tests, but a 2006 study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which took into account students' backgrounds, told a different story.

Public school students in fourth and eighth grade scored almost as well or better than their private school peers in reading and math, except that private school students excelled in eighth-grade reading.

A Harvard University study challenged the results, using the same data but different methods. Researchers found that private schools came out ahead in 11 of 12 comparisons of students. Still, the debate is far from settled, and that’s okay.

At the end of the day, the best school for your child is a highly personal decision based on your family, your values, and, most important, the special needs, idiosyncrasies, and interests of your kid. So, do your homework, visit the schools, ask the teachers lots of questions—and let the debate rage on. Once you and your child are happy with your choice, you can disregard the sandbox banter.

GreatSchools.org has profiles and ratings of schools in the Greater Sacramento area and beyond, plus parent resources to help you prepare for a visit, apply and enroll, or connect with other parents.