President-elect Trump has selected a longtime champion of school choice, Betsy DeVos, as the next secretary of education. DeVos will bring renewed attention to education policy in 2017, providing hope for parents across the country who don’t want their child’s educational options dictated by their zip code.
The 2016 election showed that educational freedom is a priority for voters and their families. Of the 121 state-level candidates supported by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice organization chaired by DeVos until her selection was announced, 108 won their elections.
Education choice programs include vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and education savings accounts. All are commendable programs, but ESAs are newer to the education choice arena and are viewed by many as the most significant education policy reform.
The concept behind ESAs is simple: give parents the flexibility to customize their child’s education. ESAs place the money that would normally be spent on a child in public school into an account monitored by the government, which parents can use to pay for alternative forms of education.
Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee have already implemented ESAs. Arizona pioneered the concept of ESAs, passing legislation to implement the nation’s first one in 2011. This year, Arizona expects 2,900 students to enroll in its ESAs, up from 302 participants in 2013.
Nevada is the first of the five states with ESAs to create a near-universal program. In states such as Arizona, only children with special needs and military connections can enroll in the program. In Nevada, more than 450,000 K-12 public students in the state are eligible to register, no matter their circumstance.
But the Nevada ESA program is now in limbo. In 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed a lawsuit against the state of Nevada to prevent the implementation, claiming the ESA program was unconstitutional. The state Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ESA program, but required a new funding source. While this is a win for families in Nevada, thousands of students are still waiting for their chance at a better education while a new funding source is being determined.
According to the American Federation for Children, new states to watch for education choice legislation this year include Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire.
New Hampshire already has a small tax-credit scholarship program. New Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, combined with Republican control of the state legislature, means the state has the opportunity to expand that program.
In 2014, the Missouri legislature passed an education choice bill that would allow students attending unaccredited schools to use their public education funds to attend a private school. The bill was rejected by then-Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. With newly-elected Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican who supports school choice, Missouri is poised to finally make headway.
In 2013, Texas lawmakers introduced a range of education choice bills, all of which failed to make it to then-Gov. Rick Perry’s desk. A tax-credit scholarship was introduced in 2015, but failed to make it out of its House committee. But 2017 could be the year that Texans finally see progress on educational choice. In December, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, voiced support for educational choice, saying, “I would be interested in signing the most pro-school choice law that arrives on my desk.”
In October, EdChoice released results from a national survey polling American families about educational options for their children. They found that just 28 percent of parents prefer to send their children to a public school, while a combined 69 percent of parents prefer alternative forms of education. Currently 83 percent of students attend a public school and 17 percent receive other forms of education, so it’s clear many parents want more educational options for their children.
There has never been a better time for states to expand school choice. Thanks to the election, 2017 is poised to be a banner year for efforts in states from coast to coast to empower parents and students with education savings accounts, vouchers and other programs that increase school choice.
Rayanne Matlock handles education policy for Americans for Tax Reform. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
