Editing School voucher (section)

====Sweden====
{{Further|Education in Sweden}}
In [[Sweden]], a system of school vouchers (called ''skolpeng'') was introduced in 1992 at primary and secondary school level, enabling free choice among publicly run schools and privately run ''fristående skolor'' ("independent schools"). The voucher is paid with public funds from the local [[Municipalities of Sweden|municipality]] (''kommun'') directly to a school based solely on its number of students. Both public schools and independent schools are funded the same way. Independent schools can be run by not-for-profit groups as well as by for-profit companies, but may not charge top-up fees or select students other than on a first-come, first-served basis.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blomqvist |first=Paula |date=April 2004 |title=The Choice Revolution: Privatization of Swedish Welfare Services in the 1990s |journal=Social Policy & Administration |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=139–155 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9515.2004.00382.x}}</ref> Over 10% of Swedish students were enrolled in independent schools in 2008 and the number is growing fast, leading the country to be viewed as a pioneer of the model.<ref name="swedishmodeleconomist">{{Cite news |date=June 12, 2008 |title=Making money from schools: The Swedish model |newspaper=The Economist |url=http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11535645}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |year=2008 |title=Made in Sweden: the new Tory education revolution |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/526631/made-in-sweden-the-new-tory-education-revolution.thtml |url-status=dead |magazine=The Spectator |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627082940/http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/526631/made-in-sweden-the-new-tory-education-revolution.thtml |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Mike |date=October 5, 2004 |title=Swedish parents enjoy school choice |publisher=BBC |location=London |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3717744.stm |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |year=2008 |title=Embracing private schools: Sweden lets companies use taxes for cost-efficient alternatives |work=Washington Times |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/11/embracing-private-schools/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Munkhammar |first=Johnny |date=May 25, 2007 |title=How choice has transformed education in Sweden |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1435386/How-choice-has-transformed-education-in-Sweden.html |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref>

[[Per Unckel]], governor of Stockholm and former Minister of Education, has promoted the system, saying "Education is so important that you can't just leave it to one producer, because we know from monopoly systems that they do not fulfill all wishes." The Swedish system has been recommended to [[Barack Obama]] by some commentators,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lance T. Izumi |date=March 15, 2009 |title=Sweden's Choice: Why the Obama Administration Should Look to Europe for a School Voucher Program that Works |work=The New York Times |url=http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/03/15/opinion/1194838660912/sweden-s-choice.html |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> including the [[Pacific Research Institute]],<ref name="PRI" /> which has released a documentary called ''Not As Good As You Think: Myth of the Middle Class Schools'',<ref name="Notasgoodasyouthink">{{Cite web |title=Not As Good As You Think: Myth of the Middle Class Schools |url=http://rightnetwork.com/episodes/not-as-good-as-you-think-the-myth-of-the-middle-class-school-part-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223200028/http://rightnetwork.com/episodes/not-as-good-as-you-think-the-myth-of-the-middle-class-school-part-1 |archive-date=December 23, 2010 |access-date=September 16, 2012 |publisher=PRI}}</ref> a movie depicting positive benefits for middle class schools resulting from Sweden's voucher programs.<ref name="PRI">{{Cite web |title=Pacific Research Institute |url=http://liberty.pacificresearch.org.html}}{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

A 2004 study concluded that school results in public schools improved due to increased competition.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sandström |first1=F. Mikael |last2=Bergström |first2=Fredrik |date=February 2005 |title=School vouchers in practice: competition will not hurt you |journal=Journal of Public Economics |volume=89 |issue=2–3 |pages=351–380 |doi=10.1016/j.jpubeco.2004.03.004}}</ref> However, Per Thulberg, director general of the [[Swedish National Agency for Education]], has said that the system "has not led to better results" and in the 2000s Sweden's ranking in the [[Programme for International Student Assessment|PISA]] league tables worsened.  Though Rachel Wolf, director of the New Schools Network, has suggested that Sweden's education standards had slipped for reasons other than as a result of independent schools.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{Cite news |last=Shepherd |first=Jessica |date=February 9, 2010 |title=Swedish-style 'free schools won't improve standards' |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/feb/09/swedish-style-schools-wont-raise-standards |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref>

A 2015 study was able to show that "an increase in the share of independent school students improves average short‐ and long‐run outcomes, explained primarily by external effects (e.g., school competition)".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Böhlmark |first1=Anders |last2=Lindahl |first2=Mikael |date=2015 |title=Independent Schools and Long-run Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Sweden's Large-scale Voucher Reform |url=https://www.cesifo-group.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp3866.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427221234/http://www.cesifo-group.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp3866.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 27, 2019 |journal=Economica |language=en |volume=82 |issue=327 |pages=508–551 |doi=10.1111/ecca.12130 |issn=1468-0335 |s2cid=17331276 }}</ref>