Education voucher

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The education voucher is a document in which the state guarantees the assumption of costs for school, study ( education ) or care in whole or in part . Study accounts were a special form of education vouchers.

The classic voucher model from Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman first pleaded in 1955 for alternative financing of education through the introduction of education vouchers. The education voucher has the following features:

The tax money no longer flows directly to the educational institutions, but via the schoolchildren or trainees (in a general sense). The trainee or his / her legal guardian is given a voucher with which he can apply to an educational institution and pay for its services. The education voucher is issued in the name of the trainee and is not transferable. The trainee gives the education voucher to a freely selectable and state-recognized educational institution. They redeem the voucher at the state treasury for money, with which they can pay their personnel, room and other material costs within the framework of a self-administered household. All trainees receive a state-determined basic value that is independent of parental income ; This financing procedure replaces the free state educational institutions and the state direct subsidies to private educational institutions.

Creation of equal opportunities and educational competition

According to its proponents, the education voucher represents a more effective economic contribution by the state to the realization of the civil right to education. The state no longer finances the school (object funding), but the pupil (subject funding). The income of schools or other educational institutions is dependent on the freedom of choice of students or parents on accepting students and retaining them. The reputation of a school is of major importance in the competition for capable students and competent teachers. Well-functioning competition among educational institutions requires transparency with regard to quality and costs, sufficient alternatives and a sufficient degree of educational freedom with regard to educational goals and educational methods. Schools must strive more for a convincing educational concept , for an educational consensus among all parties involved, for an effective practical implementation of their concept and for effective marketing and media presence.

It is socially controversial whether a greater privatization of school education, which could take place through a general use of education vouchers in the school education sector , would be sensible. Proponents of a system based on school education vouchers see such a system as an incentive for schools to work more efficiently . Opponents of such a system see this as a trigger for greater social segregation .

The need to provide a place for every school-age child and young person, and the public interest in education, contradict a completely free market to some extent. Studies have shown that free school choice leads to a preference for schools with a higher socio-economic status , and with unrestricted freedom of choice a hierarchy of schools results. In addition, there are strong incentives for schools in free competition to only accept high-performing students. Student selection may be economically more attractive for a school than an increase in the number of students, so that even successful schools have little incentive to expand. At the same time, it may be difficult to close unsuccessful educational institutions, as would be required according to market principles, in the event of impending supply bottlenecks due to compulsory schooling.

The value of school education vouchers in the case of their general use in school education in Germany is shown by the cost assessments that the Baden-Württemberg state government has to present to its state parliament every three years. According to this, a primary school student at public schools cost the municipalities (in 2004) and the state (2005) together € 3,362, a secondary school student € 5,236, a secondary school student € 4,105 and a high school student € 5,132.

According to Section 28 Paragraph 7 SGB II, children and young people up to the age of 18 are entitled to 10 euros per month in order to be able to take part in social and cultural life in the community. According to Section 29 (1) SGB II, services for school and day-care trips, for learning support and the budget for participation in social and cultural life can be provided through personalized vouchers or direct payments to service providers.

Use of education vouchers

In the United States , many experiments with education vouchers have been carried out, in which the aim was not to introduce a liberal order for the entire education system, but only to provide more fair access for poorer sections of the population to better schools. In the USA, state subsidies for private schools are not possible due to the constitutional requirement of strict separation of state and church.In Germany, on the other hand, 60 to 90% of the costs of private general education schools are covered by state subsidies, which in most federal states are already per capita given by the student. Recently, school evaluations in the Anglo-Saxon countries have also uncovered great differences in quality between public schools and aroused the desire of many parents to be able to send their child to another public school. Tony Blair has demanded that the real estate agent no longer decides on the school the child will attend, and has abolished the school districts and subsidized the way to school.

Education vouchers were distributed to low-income families as part of the New York City School Voucher Experiment. With these vouchers, they could buy tutoring and education at a private high school of their choice. Since there were more applicants than vouchers, a lottery had to be held to distribute the vouchers. The rest of the families formed the control group. After four years, the voucher group and the control group were compared:

  • For Whites, Hispanics, and Asians, there was no difference in math and reading performance between the groups
  • Black students from the voucher group performed slightly better in reading than black students from the control group. There was no difference in math performance.

Coupon experiments in Dayton, Milwaukee seem to confirm the result. For this reason, many scholars do not see education vouchers as a suitable means of improving the school performance of disadvantaged groups.

In Chile education vouchers have been used widely since 1981 and have led to the creation of more than 1,000 private schools. A study on the consequences published in 2005 did not show an objective improvement in learning outcomes, but a clear separation of the student body.

Education vouchers from the Federal Employment Agency

According to Section 81 (4) SGB ​​III, the education voucher is a certificate issued by the Federal Employment Agency to an employee or an unemployed person stating that the requirements for the promotion of further vocational training are met. It is an assurance within the meaning of § 34 SGB ​​X and thus a commitment to issue a certain administrative act later. The education voucher is used to present the training provider selected by the employee. He must present the training voucher to the Employment Agency before the start of the measure. Education vouchers are issued for a maximum period of validity of three months for the start of the educational measure. They can be restricted regionally and to specific educational goals.

There is no legal entitlement to the funding of professional development by the Federal Employment Agency. Rather, it is a so-called optional service, the granting of which is at the dutiful discretion of the authority. In accordance with Section 81, Paragraph 1 of Book III of the Social Code, funding for professional development is only possible if:

1. the further training is necessary in order to integrate the employee into a job in the event of unemployment, to avert impending unemployment or because the need for further training is recognized in him because he does not have a professional qualification,

2. the employee was advised by the Employment Agency before the start of further training and

3. the measure and the organization responsible for the measure are approved (certified) for funding.

Anyone who takes part in a subsidized educational measure receives so-called unemployment benefit in further training, provided that there are entitlements to unemployment benefit. If, at the start of the measure, there is entitlement to unemployment benefit for 30 days or less, this entitlement remains frozen during the measure, so that the unemployed person is still entitled to unemployment benefit for at least this period at the end of the measure. If you are entitled to unemployment benefit for more than 30 days at the start of the measure, the entitlement will be reduced by one day for every two days of the measure, up to a maximum of 30 days.

For holders of an education voucher, the costs for the course, required learning materials, work clothing, examination pieces, legally regulated or generally recognized intermediate and final exams as well as for a necessary aptitude test are covered. Furthermore, there is usually a right to reimbursement of necessary travel expenses. Accommodation costs and costs for additional meals can also be requested, provided that the measure necessarily takes place outside the employee's daily commuting area. If the participant has to spend the night away from home, they will be reimbursed the costs for travel to and from the event as well as the costs for a trip to the family or visiting their partner or child once a month. The reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs as well as the reimbursement of additional meals are generally based on flat rates and within the framework of maximum limits.

Since 2009, funding through education vouchers has been falling continuously. Between 2009 and 2014, under Ursula von der Leyen, the number of education vouchers issued was almost halved.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Milton Friedman: The Role of Government in Education , 1955
  2. ^ A b Charles F. Manski: Educational choice (vouchers) and social mobility . In: Economics of Education Review . Vol. 1, No. 4 . Pergamon Press, 1992, pp. 351–369 (English, online ( memento of January 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; accessed on August 4, 2010]). Educational choice (vouchers) and social mobility ( Memento from January 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Helen F. Ladd, Comment on Caroline M. Hoxby : School choice and school competition: Evidence from the United States . In: Swedish Economic Policy Review . No. 10 , 2003, p. 67–76 (English, government.se [PDF; 124 kB ; accessed on August 4, 2010]).
  4. ↑ Calculations of the costs of the public school system by the state government according to § 18 a of the Private School Act. ( Memento of October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.4 MB). Landtag printed matter 14/623.
  5. ^ Daniel P. Mayer, Paul E. Peterson, David E. Myers, Christina Clark Tuttle, William G. Howell: School Choice in New York City After Three Years: An Evaluation of the School Choice Scholarships Program. In: Mathematica. February 19, 2002.
  6. ^ Alan Krueger, Pei Zhu: Another Look at the New York City School Voucher Experiment. In: American Behavioral Scientist. vol 47, no. 5, April 2003, pp. 658-699.
  7. ^ Paul E. Peterson, William G. Howell: Latest Results from the New York City Voucher Experiment. November 3, 2003.
  8. ↑ Chang-Tai Hsieh, Miguel Urquiola: The effects of generalized school choice on achievement and stratification: Evidence from Chile's voucher program . In: Journal of Public Economics . No. 90 . Elsevier, 2006, p. 1477–1503 (English, online ( Memento from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 301 kB ; accessed on August 4, 2010]). The effects of generalized school choice on achievement and stratification: Evidence from Chile's voucher program ( Memento from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Business instructions of the Federal Employment Agency Promotion of professional development  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 224 kB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arbeitsagentur.de  
  10. ↑ Source: Federal Employment Agency , accessed August 10, 2018.

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