In recent research, we show that when public schools lost the religious instruction some parents valued, parents took on the added cost of sending their children to private school.
For evangelical Christians, both the Engel and Schempp cases represented a strong shift away from public schools teaching their preferred religious values.
Setting aside constitutional questions, this shows that parents care about the values their children adopt and incur additional costs to influence those values through their choice of school.
For some, the values taught in public schools may be the right match for their family.
For other parents, private schools and other educational options such as homeschooling provide a way for parents to inculcate their values in their children.
While parents' choice to prioritize values may be discomfiting to some, recent school choice policy adoptions reflect the apprehension many parents feel about the current public school system.
The anniversary of the Schempp decision provides an opportunity to reflect on what parents care about, what animates school choice decisions, and how we live life together in a public education system with mutually acceptable values.
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