How Education Funding Should Work in the 21st Century: What You Need to Know

For as long as we can remember, our society has known one system of education. Based on their ZIP Codes, our children are assigned to “free” public schools that are supposed to be identical and serve everyone equally.

Once in that system, which was designed to educate a workforce of people during the Industrial Age, kids are expected to all learn the same things the same way at the same pace.

Despite the system falling far short of its intended purpose decade after decade for many children, we continue to expect different results.

But what if we tried something new—something more suitable to the needs of our society in the 21st century?

A system where all families have the opportunity to custom tailor an education—whether that’s by choosing a public school, a private school, homeschool or a combination of services that best fit their kids’ needs—would be a huge step in the right direction.

Education savings accounts (ESAs) allow just that. Here’s how it could work:

And this isn’t just theoretical.

We know families prefer the freedom and flexibility ESAs provide them over the ZIP Code-driven public school assignment model.

Early survey data of parents using smaller ESA programs in the states are more satisfied with their children’s educational experiences than they were with their previous schools.

At the end of the day, educational choice is about opening up as many opportunities as possible for children to get in where they fit in.

That is the pathway to successful lives and a stronger society.