Louisiana Voucher Program Helps Desegregate Public Schools, Study Finds

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Alumni Anna Egalite, left, and Jon Mills

University of Arkansas researchers took a deep look at data on the school voucher program in Louisiana and found that the voucher program had reduced racial stratification in public schools although it appeared to increase racial stratification in private schools, according to a study published online in Education and Urban Society last month.

Researchers in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas used data collected for an ongoing evaluation of the Louisiana Scholarship Program to analyze effects of the voucher program and examine whether it harmed state efforts at desegregation, for example by allowing white students to leave schools with high black student populations.

A federal lawsuit was filed in 2013 against Louisiana and its voucher program claiming that the voucher system hurt desegregation efforts.

Researchers found that the vast majority of student transfers in the voucher program increased desegregation of public schools by reducing racial stratification in those schools, said Anna Egalite, lead author of the paper and a U of A alumna who is now an assistant professor at North Carolina State University.

Egalite worked with Jon Mills, also a former U of A graduate student, and Patrick J. Wolf, U of A professor and holder of the Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in School Choice, to conduct the study.

"The results show that 82 percent of student transfers through the voucher system decreased racial stratification in public schools," Egalite said. "At the same time, 55 percent of transfers increased racial stratification in private schools," such as when black voucher students enrolled in private schools with predominantly black student populations.

A subgroup study of schools under federal desegregation orders found a significant reduction in racial stratification in public schools and no impact on private schools, Egalite said. Specifically, 75 percent of transfers reduced racial stratification in these public schools.

"Integration in public schools was improved — a positive outcome," she said.

The authors published preliminary results in the journal Education Next in October 2014, where their findings helped inform the conversation about the lawsuit on Twitter and blogs. The U.S. Justice Department hired an independent researcher to conduct a similar study.

The district court ruled that the voucher program could continue, as long as state officials provided the federal government with demographic information about the voucher students. That reporting requirement was overturned last fall.

"We're pleased our research was able to address such an important and policy-relevant question," Egalite said.