Private schooling in Portugal: the road to freedom

This chapter describes the evolution in Portuguese private schools from intense state regulation to their current state of relative autonomy. Portugal has historically had a very centralized, bureaucratic, state-run school system. Private schooling traditionally was traditionally considered only a subspecies of public education subject to virtually the same regulation. A new regulatory paradigm has brought more autonomy for private schools but also strict public accountability. Under this new concept, Portuguese private schools have become a genuine alternative to public education. The reader is invited to draw analogies between the Portuguese experience and the ongoing American school choice debate.