Ökad konkurrens och ökad kostnad. Cream skimming och etableringsfrihet i svensk skola.

Sammanfattning: The Swedish school system is highly influenced by the extensive school reforms that took place in the beginning of 1990s. Through the free school reform, a market was created where schools compete with other schools, the main aim being higher quality and lower costs. The recent debate regarding free schools is mainly driven by ideological narratives where questions about free schools’ impact on costs largely lack a firm empirical foundation. By examining the development in twelve different municipalities that have a newly established free school this thesis answers the question: how does the establishment of a free school impact costs in a municipality and why does this development occur? Public documents and official statistics are studied from the year before an establishment of a free school to the year after. The material is analysed and discussed through the lens of five costs-driving factors and the mechanisms that define the school market. The results show that the impact on costs is higher in smaller municipalities but that almost all municipalities see higher costs in the short term. The development may well derive from the establishment of single free schools but fundamentally stem from the mechanisms that characterize the school market.