Public or private? The influence of immigration on native schooling choices in the United States

•2SLS estimates for changes in private school enrollment among native students as the level of foreign-born students enrolled in public school increases in a school district.•Native flight to private school is strongest among white, non-Hispanic students in school districts not in “gateway states”; flight for Hispanic and minority natives strongest in “gateway states”.

This study examines whether rising enrollments of foreign-born students in US public schools caused a movement among native children from public schools to private schools, something the literature has labeled native flight to private school. Using data from the National Center of Educational Statistics School District Demographic System, estimates of native flight are constructed using enrollment data on native and foreign-born, school-age children from 1990, 2000, and 2010. Concern regarding omitted variables bias necessitates the use of an instrumental variables technique. An instrument for the foreign-born enrollment is created using information about the ethnic composition of school districts in 1980 to predict the enrollment patterns of foreign-born students in later years. Two-stage least squares estimates confirm the presence of native flight. Flight to private school among white native students is occurring in smaller school districts in non-traditional immigrant receiving states, while flight among native minorities and Hispanics is located in school districts that reside in traditional immigrant receiving states.