America’s School Choice Programs Ranked by Participation, 2021 Edition
The 2021 edition of The ABCs of School Choice is officially live and available for orders, and in it, we provide the most recent participation data available for every private school choice program in America and much more. In this post, we rank all of those programs by participant counts at the time of this writing.
Though participation is a key factor in analyzing school choice systems, program design is just as important. Take the top five programs below, for example: Most of these programs offer families tax relief for private school tuition. Such programs often fail to provide immediate financial support to families of all income levels. We encourage readers to pay attention to the education savings accounts (ESAs), vouchers and tax-credit scholarships that rank high in participation because those program types better empower families with the needed flexibility and funding to meet their children’s needs.
1. Illinois’s Tax Credits for Educational Expenses (1)
Individual Tax Credit | 265, 505 tax returns
2. Minnesota’s Education Deduction (2)
Individual Tax Deduction | 187,524 tax returns
3. Iowa’s Tuition and Textbook Tax Credit (3)
Individual Tax Credit | 113,938 tax returns
4. Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (4)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 100,028 students
5. Louisiana’s Elementary & Secondary School Tuition Deduction (5)
Individual Tax Deduction | 71,468 tax returns
6. Indiana’s Private School/Homeschool Deduction (6)
Individual Tax Deduction | 56,124 tax returns
7. Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (8)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 45,882 students
8. Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program (10)
Voucher | 36,707 students
9. Arizona’s Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (11)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 36,579 students
10. Wisconsin’s K–12 Private School Tuition Deduction (9)
Individual Tax Deduction | 35,520 tax returns
11. Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship Program (25)
Voucher | 33,842 students
12. Minnesota’s K–12 Education Credit (7)
Individual Tax Credit | 32,897 tax returns
13. Florida’s John M. McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (13)
Voucher | 30,185 students
14. Ohio’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program (14)
Voucher | 30,097 students
15. Arizona’s Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (16)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 28,972 students
16. Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (12)
Voucher | 28,583 students
17. Arizona’s “Switcher” Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (15)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 26,859 students
18. Florida’s Gardiner Scholarships Accounts (19)
ESA | 17,508 students
19. Georgia’s Qualified Educational Expense Tax Credit (18)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 16,358 students
20. Pennsylvania’s Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (17)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 14,505 students
21. North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships (20)
Voucher | 13,921 students
22. Ohio’s Income-Based Scholarship Program (21)
Voucher | 12,954 students
23. Iowa’s School Tuition Organization Tax Credit (22)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 12,538 students
24. Wisconsin’s Parental Choice Program (Statewide) (24)
Voucher | 12,111
25. Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (28)
ESA | 10,850 students
26. Indiana’s School Scholarship Tax Credit (23)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 10,146 students
27. Illinois’s Invest in Kids Program (27)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 7,435 students
28. Ohio’s Cleveland Scholarship Program (26)
Voucher | 7,173 students
29. Ohio’s Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program (31)
Voucher | 6,858 students
30. Louisiana Scholarship Program (29)
Voucher | 6,892 students
31. Maine’s Town Tuitioning Program (30)
Voucher | 5,374 students
32. Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program (32)
Voucher | 4,873 students
33. Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program (33)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 4,498 students
34. Alabama’s Education Scholarship Program (34)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 4,402 students
35. Ohio’s Autism Scholarship (38)
Voucher | 4,149 students
36. Wisconsin’s Parental Private School Choice Program (Racine) (35)
Voucher | 3,835 students
37. Vermont’s Town Tuitioning Program (36)
Voucher | 3,749 students
38. Maryland’s Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Program (37)
Voucher | 3,071 students
39. Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships (39)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,555 students
40. Puerto Rico’s Free School Selection Program (55)
Voucher | 2,500 students
41. Nevada’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program (44)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,306 students
42. Louisiana’s Tuition Donation Credit Program (41)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,032 students
43. Washington D.C.’s Opportunity Scholarships Program (43)
Voucher | 1,770 students
44. North Carolina’s Special Education Scholarship Grants for Children with Disabilities (42)
Voucher | 1,657 students
45. Wisconsin’s Special Needs Scholarship Program (47)
Voucher | 1,425 students
46. South Carolina’s Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children (40)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,365 students
47. Arizona’s Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program (46)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,103 students
48. Utah’s Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship (45)
Voucher| 1,050 students
49. Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (48)
Voucher | 996 students
50. South Dakota’s Partners in Education Tax Credit Program (49)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 863 students
51. New Hampshire’s Education Tax Credit Program (54)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 718 students
52. Kansas’s Tax Credit for Low Income Students Scholarship Program (57)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 632 students
53. Rhode Island’s Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Organizations (56)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 515 students
54. Mississippi’s Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program (51)
ESA | 492 students
55. Arkansas’s Succeed Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities (53)
Voucher | 485 students
56. Louisiana’s School Choice Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities (52)
Voucher | 453 students
57. Florida’s Hope Scholarship Program (59)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 393 students
58. North Carolina’s Personal Education Savings Account (58)
ESA | 318 students
59. Tennessee’s Individualized Education Account Program (61)
ESA | 307 students
60. South Carolina’s Refundable Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children (50)
Individual Tax Credit | 272 tax returns
62. Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for Students with Dyslexia Program (60)
Voucher | 218 students
62. Alabama’s Accountability Act of 2013 Parent/Taxpayer Refundable Tax Credits (62)
Individual Tax Credit | 120 tax returns
63. New Hampshire’s Town Tuitioning Program (64)
Voucher | 17 students
64. Montana’s Tax Credits for Contributions to Student Scholarship Organizations (63)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 15 students
65. Mississippi’s Nate Rogers Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (65)
Voucher | 2 students
