Deregulation and the American Education Marketplace

Abstract

The deregulation movement has impacted the social, political, and economic landscape in the United States and continues to do so. In this article, we briefly summarize the general history of deregulation in this country and the meaning of deregulation within the specific context of education policy and reform. We focus on deregulation efforts designed to provide families and students with greater choice in where and how their K–12 schooling occurs, including magnet schools, charter schools, open-enrollment programs, and vouchers. We discuss different forms of deregulation in the K–12 education system, competition effects, and various issues related to deregulation, including potential future issues that may arise in a deregulated education marketplace. In our analysis, we conclude that education deregulation has the potential to serve some members of society, but at the detriment of others, and that a great deal of future work is needed to determine the effects—both anticipated and unintended—of deregulation in this context.

Notes

A reviewer noted that “privatization,” as used in other fields, does have different definitions, and that uses of the term in education would more accurately refer to outsourcing and not privatization (see Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). We acknowledge the definitional issues at play but want to address how the term is used within many education policy debates.

In an earlier draft of this paper, we provided a detailed example of this point. One reviewer took exception to the example, arguing that the situation could be interpreted in multiple ways, making it difficult to determine the researchers’ underlying motivations. We agree, but that is also our point here. For another good example of the “he said–she said” nature of school deregulation research, compare Chingos and Peterson (2012) with Goldrick-Rab (2012).