Barring a sudden economic U-turn, last year’s stimulus and this year’s additional $10 billion education bail-out will only delay painful state budget cuts. A huge portion of most state budgets go to public schools, making them an obvious place for cash-strapped legislatures to turn for savings.

Schools across the nation are already cutting services and teachers despite the influx of stimulus dollars, and in most cases kids are worse off for it. But Florida’s experience over the last decade has shown that there is one budget area that schools can cut to both save money and improve educational services: students. These tight fiscal times provide just one more reason for state legislatures to embrace school choice.