School Choice Grows in Sweden

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Schools run by private enterprise? Free iPods and laptop computers to attract students?

It might sound out of place in Sweden, that paragon of taxpayer- funded cradle-to-grave welfare. But a sweeping reform of the school system has survived the critics and 16 years later is spreading and attracting interest abroad.

“I think most people, parents and children, appreciate the choice,” said Bertil Ostberg, from the Ministry of Education. “You can decide what school you want to attend and that appeals to people.”

Since the change was introduced in 1992 by a center-right government that briefly replaced the long-governing Social Democrats, the numbers have shot up. In 1992, 1.7 percent of high- schoolers and 1 percent of elementary schoolchildren were privately educated. Now the figures are 17 percent and 9 percent.

Before the reform, most families depended on state-run schools following a uniform national curriculum.

Now they can turn to the “friskolor,” or “independent schools,” which choose their own teaching methods and staff, and manage their own buildings.

They remain completely government-financed and are not allowed to charge tuition. The difference is that their government funding goes to private companies which then try to run the schools more cost-effectively and keep whatever taxpayer money they save.

Andrew Coulson, an education expert at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., called the program “a beacon, being more market-like than any other among rich countries,” but said he had caveats.

In an e-mail, he said the system needed to be more flexible about how money can be spent, students recruited and curriculums chosen.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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