With the diminishing model of the welfare state, public education in Kuwait is facing the challenges of the competition of private schools, while the private sector has always struggled against the monopolistic power of the public schools that educate a broad spectrum of K-12 students. This article presents estimates of the effect of private school competition on public school performance. Using data on public versus private school population census, the author estimates the level of private school competition, exploring the variations in private school versus public school enrollment rates in the different educational districts in Kuwait. Analyzed thus are the economic, social, and national factors that are expected to be significantly related to choosing private versus public schools. These factors that account for the varying rates of private school enrollment and how these account for competition exercised by private schools on public ones have been identified, using appropriate statistical analyses. (Contains 3 tables and 1 footnote.)