This article addresses the ideas held by Spanish parents on educational institutions. It purposes to: (a) determine the existence or otherwise of differences in social representations of public and private schools; and (2) ascertain whether such representations vary with families’ socio-economic background. The data used were drawn from Sociological Research Centre (Spanish initial, CIS) survey 2935, conducted in 2012. Most parents were found to hold different social representations of the two types of school. Public education is commonly associated with more equitable acknowledgement of achievement and private education with more demanding requirements and higher employability. Parents who profess a conservative ideology, describe themselves as Catholic and live in large cities tend to value private education more highly. High income level households have an especially low opinion of public education.