Sincerely held beliefs: evidence on how religion in the classroom affects private school enrollments

Schools are one of the ways parents transmit their cultural values. US public education historically promoted Protestantism. We examine two conflicts over classroom religious exercises during the 1960s: school prayer and Bible reading. Supreme Court rulings on those matters created controversy by changing the cultural values transmitted in public schools. More conservative and evangelical religious traditions felt that their children were deprived of vital religious instruction; some moderate and liberal Protestants, as well as Jews, praised the removal of religious exercise from the public schools. We document changes in private school enrollments between 1960 and 1970 for US counties with differing religious adherence. In counties with more evangelicals and fewer Catholics, private school enrollment increased by 13–17%. States that previously had required Bible reading also saw larger increases in private school enrollments. The results are robust to a variety of checks, including controls for race-related enrollment decisions. Our results imply that evangelical families relied on public schools to transmit religious values; when the nature of public schools changed, some of them shifted to private schools. The analysis of that historical event can inform contemporary discussions about school curriculums and vouchers.