SO DEREGULATE: Some Regulations Deter Private Schools from Participating in Voucher Programs.

Our overall results suggest additional government regulations, beyond those that all private schools face, largely reduce the number of options available to families. But it is possible that regulations were more likely to deter lower-quality private schools from participating in the programs. If so, regulations could have increased the quality level of the private schools participating in the hypothetical voucher programs, on average.

However, using four different measures of school quality – Google review scores, GreatSchools review scores, tuition levels, and enrollment trends – we did not find any statistically significant evidence to suggest that any of the regulations improved the average quality of participating private schools by disproportionately deterring lower-quality schools from participating.

If the purpose of regulation is to reduce participation and enrollment, rather than to increase educational opportunities, then it’s working splendidly.