Making School Choice Work
Schools should be given more management autonomy and greater freedom to open, expand and close, according to a newly
released report by Harvard University Professor Caroline Hoxby.
The report, School Choice: The Three Essential Elements and Several Policy Options, released tomorrow by the Education
Forum and the New Zealand Association of Economists (NZAE), outlines a number of key design requirements if policies
aimed at giving parents greater choice over their children’s education are to be successful.
The report is based on Professor Hoxby’s keynote address delivered to the New Zealand Association of Economists annual
conference in 2005.
According to the report, successful school choice policies require three essential elements:
• Supply flexibility, which means that schools should have the ability to open where there is demand for them, expand
with increased demand and contract with reduced demand;
• Money should follow students, which means that funding policies must be designed so that schools that are in demand
have the funds to expand and those that are not in demand lose funds and must contract; and
• Independent management of schools, which means that schools must be free to innovate in a range of areas, including
pedagogy, teacher pay, budget allocation, and the way the school is organised.
“Recent debates over school zoning in Auckland, performance pay for teachers, schools’ operations grants and religion in
schools highlight the importance of all three of Professor Hoxby’s essential elements to schools, teaching professionals
and families”, said Education Forum policy adviser Norman LaRocque.
“Professor Hoxby is one of the world’s foremost experts on school choice and school funding policies, and has undertaken
a considerable amount of empirical work on both issues. Her report provides a useful and accessible contribution to the
New Zealand debate over school choice. I would highly recommend it to policymakers and all those with an interest in
education policy”, concluded NZAE President Dr Grant Scobie.
The report will be available on the Education Forum website: > www.educationforum.org.nz
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