School choice is very, very popular, according to EdChoice's annual Schooling in America (SIA) Survey.
Two-thirds of Americans support school vouchers, charters and tax-credit scholarships, they survey shows. Three-quarters support education savings accounts, which let parents decide how to spend education funds on their children.
Among parents with school-age children, 84 percent back ESAs. Hispanics (83 percent), blacks (78 percent), urban parents,Millennials and Gen Z also are enthusiastic. Interestingly, Democrats (77 percent) are more likely to favor ESAs than Republicans (73 percent).
Support for choice is down slightly since remote learning's start in 2020, but up significantly in the last 10 years, note Colyn Ritter and Alli Aldis.
Parents are increasingly pessimistic: 64 percent say K–12 education in America is "on the wrong track," an eight-point increase from last year.
School choice -- especially ESAs -- is booming in red states. It could be a strong issue for Republicans, writes Dave Seminara in City Journal, but Donald Trump rarely talks about it.
In 2016, Trump called school choice “the new civil rights issue of our time.” In 2020, after signing an executive order letting states use Title I money on school choice, Trump said, "All children have to have access to quality education. A child’s zip code in America should never determine their future.”
Now, in very long speeches, Trump calls for “restoring patriotism” in schools and "pledges to cut federal funding for any school 'pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity' and other 'inappropriate content,' and to withhold funding to schools implementing mask or vaccine mandates," writes Seminara. But the only mentions of school choice are brief. In an hour-long Philadelphia speech, he devoted "15 seconds on the topic."
Harris is going for the unionized teachers' vote, he concludes. She's vulnerable on this issue with Hispanics, blacks, Democrats and Independents who want better choices for their children. But Trump is stuck on the culture war and the Covid war.
Regardless of the considerations that go into a choice, consumers benefit from most expansions in the range of options available.
"Two-thirds of Americans support school vouchers, charters and tax-credit scholarships, they survey shows. Three-quarters support education savings accounts, which let parents decide how to spend education funds on their children."
Support for educational choice is good news. Trump's lack of interest in policy is not-so-good news, but that's okay so long as the anti-choice team of Harris/Walz loses in November. States can take it from there.
The State (i.e., government, generally) cannot subsidize education without a definition of "education". The State (i.e., government, generally) cannot compel attendance a school without definitions of "attendance" and "school". The State (i.e., government, generally) cannot employ teachers without a definition of "teacher". The States definitions then bind children, parents, prospective providers of education services…
>We have school choice at grade 13. How had that worked out?
Well, everyone doesn't get to go to Harvard, it's true, but they sure can avoid Whatsamatta U, if it's a lousy school. School choice means that parents and students can afford more, so they can focus less on price and more on programs.
The K-12 system has become terrible. It's not that there aren't still good schools and good teachers -- there clearly are. It's that good schools aren't the default anymore. Not even close. The system needs a reboot to shed itself of an enormous, expensive bureaucracy that adds almost nothing to kid's education. I'm not against public education, but it's failing us right now an…
We have school choice at grade 13. How has that worked out? Did everyone get to choose Harvard? Are the 70k students at the University of Central Florida there because it is the best fit with the best programs or did the students just settle on UCF because they did not get accepted to the University of Florida, could not afford out of state tuition, or was close to their parents home?