School Choice Succeeds in Arkansas

Education Freedom Accounts show results both academically and financially

By Tommy Schultz. He is CEO of the American Federation for Children. Excerpts:

"In the program’s second year, its students outperformed nearly 60% of students nationwide in math and English on standardized assessments."

"Education Freedom Accounts give priority to the core costs of a K-12 education—tuition, which accounts for 81% of spending, plus curriculum, supplies and testing—with sensible caps limiting transportation and extracurricular expenses to no more than 25% each of a single account. Parents know exactly what they can and can’t buy" 

School Choice Benefits Low-Income Families

Vouchers and scholarships help children from cash-strapped families achieve the American dream

Letter to The WSJ. 

"Mr. Kelly argues that Arizona’s education savings accounts program forces trade-offs in state spending, even though he concedes that ESAs represent only 8% of the state’s education budget. He then criticizes the $50 billion price tag on the federal scholarship tax credit for education. The 2025 federal budget was $7 trillion, making the scholarship program less than 0.75% of federal spending. The idea that these scholarships will result in significant “lost revenue” is ridiculous.

Mr. Kelly laments that when students leave public schools in a choice system, public schools lose money. “Hold harmless” arrangements can blunt the blow of enrollment shifts, but even if such options didn’t exist, what would the senator propose we do? Shouldn’t funding vary with enrollment? Would he propose not increasing funding when enrollment rises? He can’t have it both ways.

Finally, Mr. Kelly links to a story in the Washington Post that associates vouchers with declining enrollments in Arizona. Recent projections from the National Center for Education Statistics predict declining student populations due to birth dearth, not school choice, as we see the largest losses projected in states like California that don’t have choice programs. Even if choice was driving declines in enrollment in public schools, that should be a wake-up call that public schools are only viable with a captive audience.

Michael Q. McShane

EdChoice" 

Privilege Shapes Progressive Education Choice

Black Americans are far more supportive of school choice than affirmative action

Letter to The WSJ. 

"Jason Riley is right that Democrats and their teacher-union allies often claim to champion disadvantaged minority students while defending an education system that leaves those same students trapped in failing schools (“School Choice Is a Winning Issue for Republicans,” Upward Mobility, May 13).

But there is another political irony here. Black Americans are far more supportive of school choice than affirmative action. In YouGov’s 2024 Cooperative Election Study, about two-thirds of black Americans said that their state should provide “school voucher subsidies for families to send their children to private or charter schools.” Yet less than one-third of white Democrats supported expanding the kind of school choice favored by black voters.

Democrats talk constantly about white privilege, yet one of the clearest examples occurs inside their own coalition: white progressives defending a public-school monopoly less favored by minority families than by teachers’ unions. Apparently, some forms of privilege are more politically inconvenient than others.

Michael T. Hartney

Fellow, Hoover Institution" 

‘The Well-Educated Child’ Review: Where Love Meets Learning

How did Harlem Village Academies improve student performance? The charter network’s founder lays out her philosophy of education

By Naomi Schaefer Riley. Riley reviewed the book The Well-Educated Child: How the Principles and Practices of Quality Thinking, Agency, and Ethical Purpose Cultivate Deeper Learning by Deborah Kenny. Excerpts:

"It is true that for the schools catering to wealthier families, assessments are the floor and not the ceiling. No one in Scarsdale is impressed when more than 90% of students pass the Regents exams or are marked “proficient” on statewide tests. The teachers don’t teach to the test, but students learn the material they need to know through the school’s curriculum. There are exceptions. Many wealthy schools embrace the “whole language” approach to reading, but the parents acted as a backstop, ensuring that their children learned how to read even if they didn’t learn it well in school. Unfortunately, children from less-wealthy and less-educated families don’t have that advantage, and so they often fall further behind."

"Similarly, Ms. Kenny is a fan of restorative justice. She doesn’t like systems of demerits where students behave well only because of extrinsic rewards. Though she assures readers that students do suffer consequences, including suspension, for infractions, the goal at HVA is for students to understand what they have done wrong and to make amends. Of course, the way restorative justice is practiced often lacks real consequences and, again, research suggests it has led to more dangerous schools and poorer academic results. Similarly, her belief that smaller class sizes and higher teacher pay will improve our schools has no basis in evidence. (The average teacher salary at Sidwell Friends, where the Obama children went to school, is about the same as that in the New York City public schools.)"

"But Eva Moskowitz, Success Academy’s founder, has the same goals for her students. The test scores are also the floor, not the ceiling. The 20,000 students at her schools read complete books. And they learn to appreciate art and music. In “A+ Parenting” (2023), Ms. Moskowitz recommends great works of literature as well as games and music and movies to help children “become enthusiastic learners.” In the past 20 years, though, HVA’s scores have fallen while Success Academy’s have not. While they are still outperforming many neighborhood schools, Harlem Village Academy East, for instance, only has a 52% proficiency rate in reading. Sorry, Ms. Kenny, this won’t fly in Scarsdale." 

Pennsylvania’s New Education Hope

Private donors help Philadelphia students, even as Gov. Josh Shapiro turns hostile to choice scholarships

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Only a third of Philadelphia students were proficient in English, and a quarter in math, on state tests last year. That’s the horrifying return on school district spending of about $32,000 per student"

"District-staffing surged while enrollment dropped 12% from 2016 to 2025."

"More than 100,000 mostly lower-income children used the tax-credit scholarships in 2023-24, the most recent year with data available. But funding caps leave tens of thousands of students on waiting lists" (tax credits to businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship organizations) 

Andy Beshear’s Hillbilly Education Elegy

The Kentucky Governor with his eye on the White House dissembles about a veto and about us

WSJ editorial. Excerpt:

"Bluegrass State children could use the help. Kentucky fourth- and eighth-grade scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress were lower in 2024 than in 2013—by 10 points in eighth-grade math and 12 points in eighth-grade reading. In Jefferson County (Louisville) public schools, only 30% of eighth-graders are proficient in reading and 28% in math on state tests.

Mr. Beshear says the Legislature is “quick to blame our public schools for test scores while refusing to give teachers a well-deserved raise,” citing a statistic that average teacher pay in Kentucky is 42nd in the nation. Average state teacher pay was around $58,500 in 2024, compared to median household income of $64,526.

But including benefits, total teacher compensation was an average $94,194, about 10.5% higher adjusted for inflation than in 2006, according to a Bluegrass Institute analysis last year. Meanwhile, total per-pupil funding increased by an inflation-adjusted 40.5% from 2006 to 2023, the institute found."

Contrary to Allegations, the Data Show Little Fraud in Arizona School Choice Program

Education freedom is under attack, including baseless accusations.

By J.D. Tuccille of Reason. 

"Arizona's Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has long waged war against the state's school choice programs, reserving particular venom for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA), which allow much per-pupil education funding to follow students to their preferred schooling. She's been assisted in her crusade by some media outlets which have amplified inaccurate stories about ESAs. But the ESA program remains not just wildly popular but, according to researchers, also well-managed.

Is a Popular Program Rife With Fraud?

"About 2.0% of dollars spent by ESA account holders is for items that are unallowable under program rules," the Arizona Department of Education announced earlier this month in response to allegations of widespread fraud. "In addition, actual fraud or egregious purchases are at 0.3%, according to the same study."

There's a story behind that announcement, as you might expect. It's the tale of a fight over a very popular school choice program that's despised by a few politicians and their supporters.

As of this week, 102,598 Arizona students use ESAs to pay private school tuition, for curriculum, home education, tutoring, and other education expenses. Instead of being locked to specific brick-and-mortar buildings, 90 percent of per-pupil funding is deposited in accounts to be used for permitted expenses by families that want something other than traditional public schooling. ESAs are powerful tools for freeing families from one-size-fits-some schooling, but that liberating power offends proponents of traditional institutions, among them the governor.

A State Program Attacked by State Officials

"While other government entitlements have strict requirements and oversight, the ESA program continues to operate unchecked, squandering taxpayer dollars with no accountability," Gov. Hobbs charged in her State of the State address in January. "It seems like every day, we learn about new shopping sprees happening at the expense of taxpayers…diamond jewelry, high-end clothing and furniture…who knows what taxpayers will be footing the bill for tomorrow?"

Sure enough, on March 4, the Arizona Republic's Alexandra Hardle claimed that "audit data shows over 20% of vendor purchases made with Empowerment Scholarship Account dollars could be barred under the program's guidelines." She added that "records released by the Arizona Attorney General's Office show Arizonans have spent millions of dollars on expenses that appear to fall afoul of the program's guidelines."

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, it should be noted, is another Democrat who has waged a continuous battle against ESAs and against Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a Republican, who administers the school choice program. Two years ago, she tried to bury ESA families in requirements for documentation of even minor purchases. She and Hobbs insist all education spending not controlled by government bureaucrats is suspicious, and they're determined to convince the public of that claim by any means necessary.

The ESA Program 'Withstands More Scrutiny Than Many Public Programs'

The Department of Education rebutted the fraud claims, referring to a recent study it commissioned.

Per the department, "the 20% figure represented program participants that ADE [Arizona Department of Education] had selected for risk-based auditing." That is, of expenditures flagged as questionable and put aside for scrutiny, one in five were then found to be disallowed. Across the whole program, the real figure for disallowed expenses, ADE insisted, is the 2 percent mentioned above—and it's mostly unintentional.

"Most are innocent mistakes, such as an error in a form that must be resubmitted, or educational items that are not on the allowable list but that the user could have in good faith believed were permitted. Some examples would be backpacks, lunch boxes and water bottles," ADE added. Horne and company say the figure for intentional fraud is 0.3 percent.

EdChoice, an independent organization that supports education reform, sought to settle the dispute and asked for documentation of ESA participants' educational expenses.

"We were granted access to data on all ESA transactions for the school year 2024-25 (the year prior to the one ADE studied)," according to EdChoice's Susan Pendergrass and John Kristof. "After our review, the ADE's numbers seem plausible. Not only that, but unallowable expenses seem to be almost entirely concentrated in one source, which should make improvements simpler."

To the extent that there's a problem, write Pendergass and Kristof, "essentially all the potentially controversial purchases are found in Amazon transactions" made as education expenses. "Even if every Amazon transaction was eyebrow-raising, we would only be questioning around 7% of the total spend on the program. And not every Amazon transaction was eyebrow-raising." They put the total for questionable expenses at 1 to 2 percent—essentially the same as the ADE study.

"Based on our preliminary research and the Arizona Department of Education's study, the ESA withstands more scrutiny than many public programs," the EdChoice analysts conclude.

It's All Part of the Policy Battle Over School Choice

Now, that's a lot of wading into the auditing weeds for a school choice—or any—program. But Arizona's governor and attorney general can't eliminate ESAs on their own. School choice supporters control the state legislature and aren't about to abolish the program. ESAs currently enjoy 66 percent support among Arizona adults and 75 percent support among parents of school-age children, according to polls.

That means the only way for Hobbs, Mayes, and their friends to kill the ESA program and damage school choice overall in the state is to erode support for portable education funding. They have to convince Arizonans that the program is hopelessly corrupt—even though there's little evidence to support that claim. Only by turning the public against ESAs can they corral some escaped students back into government schools. And their side is desperate as the tide of public opinion turns against them.

"To date, 18 states have programs on the books that make virtually all their students eligible for state funding to use on private school tuition or home-school expenses," EducationWeek's Matthew Stone and Caitlynn Peetz Stephens noted in January. "And every one of those states made their programs universal within the past four years."

Arizona and Florida have been pathfinders in the shift toward education freedom. Opponents of school choice, including Arizona's governor and attorney general, hope that reversing course in a pioneering state can move the whole country back in their direction. Their efforts deserve to fail."

Why Johnny Can’t Read Anything Other Than Pronouns

Schools have become laboratories for esoteric ideological projects, not centers of learning

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

"One of the few bright spots in our education system has been selective-enrollment public high schools, which use standardized tests and other objective measures to determine admissions. Examples include Boston Latin School in Massachusetts, Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., all of which boast long and proven records of providing a rigorous education for students from all backgrounds. Yet even this successful model is increasingly under attack, and its future is uncertain.

A new study from the Manhattan Institute details efforts in Chicago to eliminate selective public high schools. Much of the Chicago public school system is in shambles. Wirepoints, a government watchdog group, reported last year that the Chicago Public School system operated 53 schools in 2024 where not a single student tested proficient in math, and 17 schools in which no student tested proficient in reading. Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Democrats blame these outcomes on a lack of resources, but spending per pupil has almost doubled since 2017, and teacher pay in the Windy City is among the highest in the nation for large school districts after adjusting for cost of living."

"Critics of selective public schools claim that they serve too few minority students, divert resources from traditional schools, and exacerbate racial and economic achievement gaps. Yet the Manhattan Institute’s assessment found that at least a third of the students at selective high schools in Chicago come from low-income families, and Chicago Public Schools spend thousands more per student on nonselective schools."

The Atlantic’s Critique of Homeschooling Ignores the Real Education Crisis

By Corey A. DeAngelis. Excerpt:

"The Atlantic recently ran a story headlined “He Was Homeschooled for Years, and Fell So Far Behind.” It profiles Stefan Merrill Block, who was homeschooled in his early years and later struggled to catch up once he entered traditional schooling. But one rough experience doesn’t invalidate an entire movement that is delivering superior results for millions of families across the country.

Homeschool students are outperforming kids in government schools by a wide margin. Brian Ray’s peer-reviewed systematic review in the Journal of School Choice examined dozens of studies on the topic. Seventy-eight percent of those studies found homeschoolers scoring significantly higher academically than their public school peers. They beat traditional school kids by 15 to 25 percentile points on standardized tests. These solid results hold up regardless of family background, income level, and whether the parents ever held a teaching certificate.

Government schools deliver exactly the opposite outcome. In Chicago alone, there are 55 public schools where not a single kid tests proficient in math. They spend about $30,000 per student each year and still fail to produce basic proficiency. The Nation’s Report Card shows nearly 80 percent of US kids aren’t proficient in math. That’s the real crisis staring us in the face, and it demands accountability from the system that claims to serve our children."

Governors Who Refuse Education Dollars

Not surprisingly, they’re pandering to teachers unions

By Daniel Lipinski. Mr. Lipinski, a Democrat, represented Illinois’s Third Congressional District 2005-21. He is a fellow at the Hoover Institution and the University of Dallas. Excerpt:

"Scholarships can be granted to cover a variety of education expenses. While many will fund tuition aid, scholarship nonprofits can choose to help families pay for tutoring, education technology, special-education services and other expenses. Eligibility will be limited to households earning less than 300% of the area’s median income, but many programs will likely focus on those most in need.

Teachers unions are pressuring Democratic governors to reject this golden goose. Their virulent opposition is revealing. Extra resources are what educators say they want. So why do their unions oppose receiving them? It seems they so abhor the idea that a scholarship might help parents choose which school their child goes to that they are willing to reject support for students in their own members’ classrooms."

Report: Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts students test well in ‘fiscally modest’ program

Scores for math, language outdo nationwide averages, UA Department of Education Reform says

By Josh Snyder of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Excerpts:

"Arkansas students who participated in the Educational Freedom Accounts program last school year outperformed on average 57% of students nationwide in math and 59% of students in English language arts on nationally norm-referenced exams, a new report indicates.

The figures are part of a 92-page report on the Educational Freedom Accounts program for the 2024-25 school year that was published Wednesday by the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform"

"The program significantly expands state taxpayer funding of student tuition and other costs related to private schools and some homeschool expenses. While it is often referred to as a voucher program, some advocates argue it works differently than traditional vouchers. The 2025-26 school year is the first in which the program is open to all Arkansas students; during the initial 2023-24 school year, enrollment in the program was capped at 1.5%, while in 2024-25 enrollment was capped at 3%."

""The program remained fiscally modest relative to the state's K-12 budget while continuing to build operational capacity and provider choice statewide," it states."

"Of those participants in the 2024-25 school year, 76% attended participating private schools, while 24% used program funds to support their homeschooling."

"Students completed a total of 5,317 tests using the NWEA Measure of Academic Progress. Those students outperformed 58% of students nationwide in math on average and 60% of students nationwide in English language arts" 

"A total of 2,380 tests were completed using the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. On average, students who took that assessment outperformed 62% of students nationwide in math and 64% of students nationwide in English language arts.

Homeschool students outperformed 63% of students nationwide in math on average, and outperformed 68% of students nationwide in English language arts."

"a greater percentage of students participating in the accounts program demonstrated mastery in English language arts, math and science than the statewide aggregate for the exam" 

"The report also argues the Educational Freedom Accounts program saved the state as much as $22 million."

"Students receiving an account get 90% of what public schools get per student in state funding from the previous school year."

New York’s Charter Schools Live Up to Their Promise

Success Academy in the Bronx has a 90% poverty rate yet has reached a 96% proficiency rate in reading

By Jason L. Riley. Excerpts:

"we know from decades of empirical research that public charter schools often outperform their traditional counterparts. The problem is that the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and other opponents of school choice see charters as a threat—not to kids but to unions."

"the decline in the quality of public education in the U.S. predates the advent of charters in the 1990s. Charter schools are being blamed for a pre-existing trend"

"A study of reading outcomes in New York state public schools that serve high concentrations of economically disadvantaged children found a disproportionate number of charter schools winning the highest marks. Charters were 9.5% of the study’s sample but “earned 38.5% of the spots on our list of exemplars.”" 

"The 10 highest-scoring schools were located in New York City, and seven of those were charter schools in the Bronx, which is home to some of the poorest ZIP Codes in the country. “All serve a high concentration of low-income students, with 66% to 92% of children qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch,” the report noted. “And yet, 90% to 97% of their third graders were proficient readers in 2024, the year of our analysis. In comparison, the proficiency rate for all third graders across the state was just 43%.”"

"The top-scoring school was a Success Academy charter school in the Bronx, where the student-body poverty rate is 90% and 94% of students scored proficient in third-grade reading in 2024."

"A wait list in New York City runs to 163,000 students, yet lawmakers have placed an arbitrary limit on the number of charters" 

Setting the Record Straight on Arizona’s ESA Program

By Colleen Hroncich of Cato.

"In her recent State of the State address, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs painted the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program as an unaccountable “entitlement” riddled with fraud. This is a flawed portrayal that ignores the benefits of the program. ESAs enable parents to use state education funds to choose educational options that work best for their children.

Interestingly, Governor Hobbs seems to be using the “entitlement” framing pejoratively. In the same speech, she bragged about protecting Medicaid and school meals, both of which are federal entitlement programs. I don’t think it was an accident that she did not refer to them as the “Medicaid entitlement” or “school meal entitlement.”

If ESAs are entitlements then so are conventional public schools. Both receive taxpayer funding to educate children. The difference is that ESAs allow families to direct those education dollars toward the schools and services that best fit their children’s needs, rather than being assigned to a school based solely on their address. Denigrating one as an entitlement while praising the other is disingenuous at best.

Governor Hobbs highlighted extreme examples of ESA misuse. While these stories make headlines, they don’t represent the bulk of the program. Audits have consistently shown that ESA fraud rates are significantly lower than other government programs. While no program is perfect, these results show that most Arizona families are using these funds as intended: for educational purposes such as tuition, tutoring, curricula, and therapies.

This shouldn’t be surprising given the program’s built-in accountability measures. Unlike public school spending, where districts handle billions of dollars with limited transparency about individual expenditures, every ESA purchase requires a receipt or invoice. Parents must document how they spend their education funds, and the state reviews these transactions. That level of oversight doesn’t exist in conventional public schools.

The governor’s claims about a lack of accountability reflect a worldview that prioritizes the system over individual kids. By equipping parents to take their children—and funding—to a new provider, the accountability inherent in an ESA program is far superior to the public school system. Rather than engaging in political and legal battles or waiting for a school board to change a policy, ESAs enable parents to quickly choose the educational options that work best for their children.

Keep in mind, we aren’t talking about abstract statistics. ESAs are benefiting diverse families across Arizona. Whether children with special needs who weren’t thriving in their assigned schools, military families dealing with frequent relocations, or lower-income parents seeking alternatives they couldn’t otherwise afford, ESAs have opened doors that were previously locked to many families.

Rather than restricting a program that’s working for hundreds of thousands of children, Governor Hobbs should embrace it. Arizona families deserve the freedom to pursue the educational paths that work best for them."

Another K-12 Education Disaster

High school seniors score record lows in reading and math on the NAEP test

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"In 2024, 45% of twelfth-graders performed “below basic” in math, and 32% in reading. Eighth-grade science scores were hardly better: 38% rated below basic." [National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP]

"In all three exams, students scored on average lower than on the most recent exam in 2019. Reading scores were about 10 points lower than when the exam was first administered in 1992."

"Scores at charter schools mostly didn’t fall."

"While schools nationwide have received hundreds of billions of dollars from the feds and states to address pandemic learning loss, a record number of eighth-graders can’t read."

"reading and math scores have been sliding since 2013."

"An emphasis on “equity” has led some school districts to adopt no-grading and no-homework policies in lower grades."

"High-school graduation rates increased by some 14 percentage points from 1991 to 2023, even as students are less prepared for college." 

Indiana’s Big School Voucher Breakthrough

The state expands education access, as choice boosts student K-12 achievement.

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"More than 20% of the state’s students attend a school other than the public one for which they’re zoned, and the shift has accelerated since 2020.

The difference for students is clear. Indiana eighth-graders ranked sixth in the nation in reading scores in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, up from 19th in 2022. The state’s fourth-graders jumped 11 spots in the same assessment and now also rank sixth nationwide."

Ohio’s School Choice Success Story

Voucher recipients saw substantially improved academic outcomes

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Researchers Matthew Chingos, David Figlio and Krzysztof Karbownik studied more than 6,000 Ohio students who first used EdChoice scholarships to attend private schools between 2008 and 2014. They compared this group with more than 500,000 students who remained in public schools, selecting for similar demographics and academic characteristics.

Scholarship recipients were found to be 15 percentage points more likely to attend college than public school counterparts, and nine points more likely to graduate. Students in the program for at least four years—about 60% of participants—had even higher college enrollment and graduation rates."

"Groups that benefited the most were blacks, boys, students who experienced long-term childhood poverty, and students with below-median test scores before leaving public school. The rate of college enrollment among black scholarship recipients increased 18 percentage points, compared with 13 points for white students. Students who spent more than three-quarters of their life in poverty saw their rate of college attendance increase 17 percentage points, up to seven points higher than students from less impoverished backgrounds."

"the authors compared outcomes at schools on either side of the eligibility threshold. Students who remained at EdChoice-eligible public schools were three percentage points more likely to attend college—and six percentage points more likely to graduate—than students at ineligible public schools."

Josh Shapiro Keeps Betraying Poor Pennsylvania Children

Pennsylvania’s governor campaigned on school choice. In office he bows to the teachers union

By Rachel Langan. Excerpts:

"Pennsylvania public schools have made no measurable improvement since 2003 to close achievement gaps of more than 25 points for black and Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, or English Language Learners."

"In 2022, the country’s biggest public-sector unions gave Mr. Shapiro’s campaign $4.5 million, more than the combined total for the next three top recipients nationwide." 

"In 2023 the governor negotiated a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that gave double-digit pay raises for state workers."

"During his first state budget negotiations, he was set to sign Lifeline Scholarships into law. But union opposition quickly mobilized a small but loud pressure campaign, rebuking Mr. Shapiro for his “irresponsible” support for the program. The governor caved and vetoed his own campaign promise."

"Polling shows that 86% of Hispanic voters and 92% of black voters in Pennsylvania support Lifeline Scholarships."

Roland Fryer on school choice

See Roland Fryer on Educational Reform.

"But, when you look in an inner city, you see someone choose a lower test-score school, you say, 'What are they doing? They don't really know what they're doing. We can't trust these people.' Ah, we can't trust you. You haven't looked at the full data.

What they're choosing is safety first, and then test scores. Right? But, you wouldn't know that until you get into those communities and actually talk to people, and understand that their preferences are just like ours. All we want is for our kids to be upwardly mobile, to be good kids, and to have a better life than our own.

And so, I think that parents know that better than most."

 

The Education Terminator Tries to Kill a School Choice Program in Nebraska

Teachers unions won’t stop until any alternative to their education monopoly is killed

WSJ editorial. 

"Regarding school choice for children, teachers unions are best understood as Terminators, as in the movie series. They are relentless, and they won’t stop until any alternative to their education monopoly is killed. The latest example is Nebraska, where unions are pushing a ballot measure to repeal a modest K-12 scholarship program.

In April the state Legislature passed a $10 million a year scholarship program to help students who attend private school with education expenses. More than 5,000 students applied for the program in the roughly one month that applications were open, according to Jeremy Ekeler, executive director of Opportunity Scholarships of Nebraska, the nonprofit that administers the scholarships.

Even this is too much competition for the union monopoly. The union-backed Support Our Schools Nebraska managed to put Referendum 435 on the ballot, and voters next week can choose to “repeal” or “retain” the program.

The group is trying to scare voters into believing the scholarships will drain money from public schools. That ignores the principle that parents should be able to send their tax dollars to the school they’d prefer. But it’s also silly given the small cost.

“K-12 schools received about $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds,” state Sen. Dave Murman noted in a statement this spring. Since 2023, “we have additionally appropriated over $1.6 billion for our public schools.” The $10 million program is about 0.2% of education funding.

Meanwhile, another state scholarship program is about to expire, thanks to a similar union attack. In 2023 lawmakers created a $25 million tax-credit scholarship, the state’s first for K-12 students. After Support Our Schools collected signatures to put a repeal measure on the November ballot, the Legislature passed the April bill to replace the tax credits with the smaller $10 million program.

The new law sunsets the tax-credit program at the end of this month, but the sunset provision isn’t on the ballot for repeal—meaning that if the new law is repealed, the tax-credit scholarships still expire.

About 1,500 students currently use the tax-credit program, and no doubt many would like to use the new scholarships. Mr. Ekeler testified in a public hearing last week that about half of these recipients have household income below 213% of the federal poverty level, the measure used to determine eligibility for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Some 40% are nonwhite and 11.5% have special needs. The average scholarship is $1,700.

For Sierra Shouse, a single mother in Nebraska, the scholarship program has “positively impacted my son’s education and character and his confidence” and “been a weight off of my shoulders,” she testified at the state Capitol. “I do not have the financial resources to be able to send my children to the school I think they deserve to be at.”

Sorry, Ms. Shouse. The union says your choice for your son must be terminated."

More Spending =/= Better Education

By Dan Mitchell.

"My favorite education chart was created by the late Andrew Coulson and it shows that massive increases in K-12 education spending have not produced higher test scores.

And research has confirmed that result. Over and over and over again.

Simply stated, more government spending does not produce better educational outcomes.

Today, let’s look at some additional evidence. Here’s a table showing that Florida has the third-lowest level of education spending but third-highest reading performance for kids in the fourth grade.

The table comes from a new report from the American Enterprise Institute.

Authored by Kathryn Perkins, Paul Powell, and Jeff Wasbes, the report highlights big improvements in student outcomes, but than also points out that Florida gets very good results while spending much less money. Here are the key excerpts.

A decade ago, Florida was decidedly in the middle of the pack on NAEP. Across the four most recent rounds, however, there has been rapid progress—particularly steep over the past four years—resulting in 2022 scores that place Florida fourth graders third and fourth nationally in reading and math, respectively… Florida’s achievement in elementary grades is headline making in its own right. But what objectively demands our attention is Florida’s spending relative to its results. During its high-progress period, Florida’s per-pupil spending has been consistently low. Its roughly $11,000-per-pupil expenditure places it in the bottom three nationally when adjusted to an equalized dollar across the 50 states,3 and it is three times smaller than the top spender’s (New York’s) budget. What is more, the two states on par with Florida in fourth-grade reading (Wyoming and Massachusetts) spend nearly twice as much per student (1.98 and 1.89 times—or $21,185 and $22,174 respectively).

So what has Florida done a better job than other states?

The authors acknowledge that there are several factors. But my two cents is that it is driven by the fact that Florida is a leader in school choice and also because teacher unions are comparatively powerless in the Sunshine State.

P.S. Since they did not challenge the government’s education monopoly, it is no surprise that Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Obama’s Common Core were both expensive failures.

P.P.S. The main problem with education in America is a failed government-run monopoly that is designed to enrich education bureaucrats rather the deliver education. That being said, it certainly would help to abolish the Department of Education. Yesterday, if possible."