However, it is not a good estimate of the cost of bringing private school students into an educational choice program. That cost will be much lower due to efficiencies caused by competition. Tim Tully published in 1992 demonstrates that average per-pupil spending by Catholic schools is about half the amount spent by public schools. As noted in Part 1 of this report, Illinois' Catholic schools enroll students whose socioeconomic status closely matches that of their public school counterparts, yet they are superior to public schools according to test scores, graduation rates, attendance rates, and other measures. 59 Plainly, paying teachers less is not the entire secret of the private school success story.
Catholic schools spend remarkably little on administration.
In many schools, for example, the principal is also a full-time teacher. Students help with routine school maintenance, while the school janitor may also be the engineer, carpenter, and security officer. Catholic schools, whether by accident or design, tend to be smaller than public schools, making this lack of specialization possible. Competition , in short, is the real cause of their efficiency. A properly designed scholarship program would reduce overall spending on education by exposing public schools to the same market discipline that private schools have operated under with such apparent success.