It has been hard to keep up with the number of school choice programs state legislatures have created so far in 2021. As sessions across the country wrap up, it is worth pausing to underscore just how massive the wins for the educational choice movement have been this year.
Education savings accounts, or ESAs, are the vanguard of school choice policy. No longer must students exchange a voucher or a tax-credit scholarship at a single educational institution. Now, funding is placed in a flexible-use spending account that families can spread across private schools, tutoring, therapies, and other educational resources. West Virginia passed an absolutely massive ESA bill that will have the broadest eligibility of any school choice program in the nation. Kentucky and Missouri were the first states to create ESAs that would be funded by tax-credited donations rather than directly by the state. And not to be left out, Indiana created a new ESA program, and Florida consolidated one of its voucher programs with its ESA program, allowing more students to have access to ESAs.
Legislatures also expanded voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs. Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, and Maryland all expanded their voucher programs, allowing either broader eligibility, increasing the amount of money available for vouchers, or both. Indiana particularly stands out as now 90 percent of families are eligible for the state’s 10-year-old voucher program. Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota either created new tax-credit scholarship programs or expanded eligibility or funding for their existing programs.
In total, 13 states have created five new programs and expanded 13 existing programs. Hundreds of thousands of families across the country will become eligible to participate in the next year or two, offering new opportunities that previously were financially out of their reach.
School choice expanded this year because school choice is popular. In April of 2020, according to our monthly opinion tracker poll, 64 percent of Americans and 78 percent of American parents support education savings account programs. That support is bipartisan, with 68 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Democrats backing ESAs. Vouchers are popular as well, with 59 percent of all Americans and 72 percent of parents supporting them. It really is as simple as that. Legislators are doing what their constituents want.
The coronavirus pandemic opened many parents’ eyes to the new and different educational possibilities that are out there. While in the past many went with what their local district or even their local private school had to offer, the pandemic exposed millions of families to pandemic pods, microschools, hybrid homeschooling, virtual learning, and a host of different educational modalities that might better fit their child’s needs.
There is no one best way to educate children in America. During the pandemic, tons of kids absolutely hated remote learning and loathed every minute they had to stare into their computer screen. But some kids loved it and thrived in it. The same is true for hybrid learning, where children attend class for some part of the week and are schooled at home for the other part of the week. Some children (and their families) loved this new schedule and found that it fit the rhythms of their lives better. Others detested it and wanted to either be in-person or online, but not both.
Early U.S. Census Bureau reports point to a massive increase in homeschooling during the pandemic. Again, we see families looking outside of the traditional system to provide a better education for their children. Substantial growth in support among Black families and in states that were historically more hostile to homeschooling also point to a changed landscape when it comes to our understanding of who wants what in education.
Change is scary. My generally conservative disposition biases me against it. But when change means returning to family and enriching community and contextualizing education as part of a richer, fuller life, that is the kind of change that I can get behind. Clearly, the majority of Americans, a super majority of parents, and increasing numbers of state legislators and governors agree. Good outcomes will come from this.
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May 24, 2021 at 08:48PM
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Oh, What A Year For School Choice - Forbes
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