Education Vouchers in Spain: The Valencian Experience

ISSN： 1469-5782

Source： Education Economics, Vol.10, Iss.2, 2002-08, pp. : 119-132

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Abstract

This paper presents a description and an economic evaluation of the first Spanish education voucher programme: the nursery voucher system in Valencia. This programme began in 1992 with a moderate budget, but has been slowly developing and at present sets aside 3,282,000€ (2,898,000$)1 to finance the education of more than 5,000 children. This evaluation focuses on the two main objectives proposed by the local government: equality of opportunity in access to education and parental choice. The analysis of the data of the school year 1998-1999 shows that vouchers allow a number of poor children to be schooled as well as allowing a number of parents to choose the school they prefer. However, due to the characteristics and limitations of the Valencian system, these effects are not as significant as may have been expected. Moreover, parents have stated their preference for other public financing mechanisms, such as public provision or subsidies to private schools.