Who Chooses and Why?

Baseline Demographic Data Report

San Antonio School Choice Research Project

Executive Summary

This report describes the collection of baseline demographic data for a three-year study of private and public schools choice programs in San Antonio, Texas.  It answers the questions:  (1) Who are the choosers?  (2) Why do they choose?  (3) How do choosers and nonchoosers differ? and (4) How do private school choosers differ from public schools choosers?

Two choice program are the focus of the study.  The first is the privately funded Children's Educational Opportunity (CEO) Foundation program providing partial scholarships to low-income children for use in private nad out-of-district public schools.  The second is a district-wide multilingual public school choice program offered by the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD).

This baseline data report encompasses both choosers and nonchoosers.   The choosers include the following families: (1) those enrolling their child in a private school with the assistance of a CEO scholarship, (2) those applying for a CEO scholarship for this child but placed on a waitlist because of limited funding, (3) those offered a CEO scholarship for their child bur deciding not to accept it, (4) those choosing the SAISD multilingual program for their child and enrolling, and (5) those choosing the SAISD multilingual program but not enrolling because of limited space.   The nonchoosers are those families whose children attend neighborhood public schools in the SAISD district.

The data were collected during the fall and winter of 1992-93.  Key findings from the research are:

1.  The CEO program and SAISD multilingual program primarily serve Hispanic families.  Anglos are slightly overrepresented among CEO choosing families with respect to their numbers in the San Antonio urban student population.   African-Americans are slightly overrepresented in the multilingual program.

2.  The CEO program generally serves low income families, while the SAISD multilingual program serves a wider range of income levels.

3.  Choosing families are better educated, have higher incomes, and for female parents or guardians, are more likely to be employed than nonchoosing families.

4.  A majority of both choosing and nonchoosing parents are married.

5.  More than half of the choosing students are females.  Almost two-thirds of the nonchoosing students are males.

6.  CEO parents who chose private sectarian schools for their children are more involved in religious activities than either multilingual prents or nonchoosing parents.

7.  Choosing parents are likely to hav fewer children than nonchoosing parents and to be somewhat more involved in their children's education.

8.  Choosing families have higher educational expectations for their children than nonchoosing families.  More than half of choosing families expect their children to attend professional or graduate schools compared with less than one-quarter of nonchoosing families.

9.  Both choosing and nonchoosing families place considerable importance ont he value of eduation in comparison with other goals.

10.  Satisfaction levels with prior schooling are highest among CEO parents whose children were previously enrolled in private schools and among SAISD multilingual parents.  Satisfaction levels with prior schooling are lowest among CEO parents whose children were previously enrolled in public school.

11.  The most frequently cited sources for information about the DEO scholarship program are the newspaper and private schools.  For the SAISD multilingual program, it is school teachers/counselors and public schools.

12.  Both CEO and multilingual families cite educational quality as the most important reason for selecting the programs.

13.  Most CEO parents receiving scholarships would not send their child to a public school even if they could select the school.  CEO parents whose children declined or dropped out of the CEO program find choosing a public school much more appealing.

14.  A majority of CEO parents who did not accept their scholarship cite insufficient financial resources as a major reason.

15.  Participating CEO and multilingual families are highly satisfied with programinformation and assistance from program administrators.  Families who were waitlisted are less satisfied.  Families who declined the CEO scholarship offer are satisfied with program information but less satisfied with administrative assistance.

16.  Participating CEO families are overwhelmingly satisfied with the amount of the scolarship.  A sizable percentage of CEO families who are waitlisted or dropped out of the program are dissatisfied with the scholarship amount.

The next phase of the research will examine the impact of the school choice programs over a three-year period on student achievement and socialization experiences, on student and family satisfaction levels, and on both the chosen schools and schools losing students to choice programs.