America’s School Choice Programs Ranked by Participation, 2022 Edition
The 2022 edition of The ABCs of School Choice is officially live and available for orders. In The ABCs, 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 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, tax-credit ESAs 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 | 242,074 tax returns
2. Minnesota’s Education Deduction (2)
Individual Tax Deduction | 179,550 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 | 106,112 students
5. Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship Program for Educational Options (11)
Voucher | 74,418 students
6. Louisiana’s Elementary & Secondary School Tuition Deduction (5)
Individual Tax Deduction | 66,671 tax returns
7. Indiana’s Private School/Homeschool Deduction (6)
Individual Tax Deduction | 56,124 tax returns
8. Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (7)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 45,882 students
9. Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program (8)
Voucher | 35,698 students
10. Wisconsin’s K–12 Private School Tuition Deduction (10)
Individual Tax Deduction | 35,520 tax returns
11. Ohio’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program (14)
Voucher | 33,203 students
12. Arizona’s Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (9)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 32,824 students
13. Arizona’s Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (15)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 29,829 students
14. Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (16)
Voucher | 28,770 students
15. Florida’s John M. McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (13)
Voucher | 25,832 students
16. Minnesota’s K–12 Education Credit (12)
Individual Tax Credit | 25,753 tax returns
17. Arizona’s “Switcher” Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (16)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 25,385 students
18. Pennsylvania’s Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (20)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 21,045 students
19. North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships (21)
Voucher | 19,401 students
20. Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship Program for Students with Unique Abilities (18)
ESA | 18,585 students
21. Ohio’s Income-Based Scholarship Program (22)
Voucher | 17,204 students
22. Georgia’s Qualified Educational Expense Tax Credit (19)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 16,193 students
23. Wisconsin’s Parental Choice Program (Statewide) (24)
Voucher | 14,452
24. Iowa’s School Tuition Organization Tax Credit (23)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 12,071 students
25. Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (25)
ESA | 9,669 students
26. Indiana’s School Scholarship Tax Credit (26)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 9,557 students
27. Ohio’s Cleveland Scholarship Program (29)
Voucher | 7,811 students
28. Ohio’s Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program (29)
Voucher | 7,494 students
29. Illinois’s Invest in Kids Program (27)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 6,655 students
30. Louisiana Scholarship Program (30)
Voucher | 6,405 students
31. Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program (32)
Voucher | 5,203 students
32. Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program (33)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 4,592 students
33. Maine’s Town Tuitioning Program (31)
Voucher | 4,368 students
34. Ohio’s Autism Scholarship (35)
Voucher | 4,279 students
35. Wisconsin’s Parental Private School Choice Program (Racine) (36)
Voucher | 3,940 students
36. Vermont’s Town Tuitioning Program (37)
Voucher | 3,749 students
37. Alabama’s Education Scholarship Program (34)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,980 students
38. Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships (39)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,555 students
39. Maryland’s Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Program (38)
Voucher | 2,529 students
40. Louisiana’s Tuition Donation Credit Program (42)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,032 students
41. Washington D.C.’s Opportunity Scholarships Program (43)
Voucher | 1,835 students
42. Wisconsin’s Special Needs Scholarship Program (45)
Voucher | 1,757 students
43. New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account Program (NR)
ESA | 1,635 students
44. South Carolina’s Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children (46)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,365 students
45. North Carolina’s Special Education Scholarship Grants for Children with Disabilities (42)
Voucher | 1,343 students
46. Kansas’s Tax Credit for Low Income Students Scholarship Program (52)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,063 students
47. Nevada’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program (41)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,055 students
48. Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (49)
Voucher | 1,023 students
49. Arizona’s Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program (47)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 964 students
50. Puerto Rico’s Free School Selection Program (40)
Voucher | 878 students
51. South Dakota’s Partners in Education Tax Credit Program (50)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 863 students
52. Utah’s Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship (48)
Voucher| 749 students
53. New Hampshire’s Education Tax Credit Program (51)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 718 students
54. Rhode Island’s Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Organizations (53)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 576 students
55. Mississippi’s Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program (54)
ESA | 492 students
56. Arkansas’s Succeed Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities (55)
Voucher | 485 students
57. Louisiana’s School Choice Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities (56)
Voucher | 453 students
58. Tennessee’s Individualized Education Account Program (59)
ESA | 307 students
59. North Carolina’s Personal Education Savings Account (58)
ESA | 304 students
60. South Carolina’s Refundable Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children (60)
Individual Tax Credit | 272 tax returns
61. Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for Students with Dyslexia Program (61)
Voucher | 218 students
62. Florida’s Hope Scholarship Program (57)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 189 students
63. Alabama’s Accountability Act of 2013 Parent/Taxpayer Refundable Tax Credits (62)
Individual Tax Credit | 53 tax returns
64. New Hampshire’s Town Tuitioning Program (63)
Voucher | 17 students
65. Montana’s Tax Credits for Contributions to Student Scholarship Organizations (64)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 15 students
66. Mississippi’s Nate Rogers Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (65)
Voucher | 1 student
Not-yet-operating programs or programs with zero participants will not be reflected in this list.
