Parental schooling choice: A case study of minnesota

Public support of nonpublic elementary and secondary education has become one of the most controversial issues in American educational policy, with tuition tax credits and deductions subjects of ongoing debate at both the state and federal level. This article presents the results of one of the first empirical investigations of how a tax subsidy for tuition costs actually influences parents' school choices using data from Minnesota, the first state to have a tuition subsidy pass judicial review at all levels. It should be useful to policy makers, researchers, and practitioners who are concerned with how parents make schooling decisions on behalf of their children, and how tax subsidies for educational expenses might affect those choices.