In The States

Educational Choice and Bridging the Political Divide

At the annual conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting this year, Dr. Steve Perry—a liberal charter school leader and passionate educational choice advocate—spoke about the poor state of K–12 education for families of color and those in poverty and inspired the audience with his ideas on how to bridge the political divide to advance […]

ESAs in Missouri: A “Barren” School Choice Landscape

ESAs in Missouri

This is the first in a three-part series that looks at education savings accounts in Missouri and how they could empower every family and improve student outcomes. Where Things Stand in the Show-Me State School choice has seen tremendous progress over the past two decades. What began modestly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1991 with a […]

BRIEF: School Choice in the States July 2016

July 2016 State Brief

LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arkansas – Brittany Corona @BrittanyLCorona Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the state’s 2016–17 budget in June, which included funding for the Succeed Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities, a statewide school voucher program for public school students with special needs and active-duty military families. The Reform Alliance is continuing its work with the Arkansas Department […]

Nevada ESA Litigation: What You Need to Know

Nevada ESA litigation

Nevada created an education model for the nation in 2015 when it passed into law an education savings account (ESA) program under which more than 96 percent of all K–12 students are eligible for ESA funding (90–100 percent of the state’s average education funding for each child). This currently is the most sustainable, inclusive, equitable […]

BRIEF: School Choice in the States June 2016

LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona – Michael Chartier @mchart1 The Arizona Auditor General released a performance audit on the nation’s first education savings accounts (ESAs): Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. The auditor’s main findings were that the Arizona Department of Education established methods for distributing the accounts and found a way to prevent and resolve fraud. Visit the Goldwater Institute’s […]

BRIEF: School Choice in the States May 2016

May 2016 State Brief

LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona – Michael Chartier @mchart1 The Arizona legislature expanded the states education savings account (ESA) program by making children who are legally blind and/or deaf or hard of hearing eligible. The state also opened the ESA program to a year-round application window. Arkansas – Brittany Corona @BrittanyLCorona Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed on May 9 the state’s 2016–17 budget, […]

JAMES G. BLAINE: Who was he, and how is he affecting children’s education today?

Blaine amendments

Maine legislator and presidential hopeful James G. Blaine (1830–1893) was a member of Congress in the mid- to late 1800s, a time when Catholic immigrants were flooding into the country and public schools were overwhelmingly Protestant. Catholic immigrant students were encouraged to assimilate in public schools. Desiring an educational option that was consistent with their […]

BRIEF: School Choice in the States April 2016

April State Update Main Image

LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Georgia – Brittany Corona @BrittanyLCorona HB 243 was recommitted to be heard in the Georgia House Ways and Means on April 2. The bill would create a nearly universal education savings account (ESA) program for any student in the Peach state who was enrolled in public school the preceding school year. You […]