esas

Breaking Down New Hampshire’s ESA Bill, the Research and Public Opinion

Last year, New Hampshire legislators introduced a bill to create Education Freedom Savings Accounts. The New Hampshire Senate passed a version of SB 193 that would set up an education savings account (ESA) program that is open to all public and homeschooled K–12 students in the Granite State. That would be a vast upgrade from New Hampshire’s […]

The Power of Educational Choice

Jordan Visser

The holiday season is a time for celebrating goodwill, kindness, generosity and, most important, family. In that spirit, we’re sharing three stories that highlight not just the moral imperative of educational choice, but also some amazing families. Happy holidays, EdChoicers! Enjoy.   The Visser Family Katherine and Christo Visser and their 10-year-old her son Jordan […]

How Nevada Can Do Right by Students by Doing Right by Teachers

NV students and teachers

In two previous posts, I discussed the fiscal impact of Nevada’s education savings account (ESA) program and how it could help the state with its problem of rising pension costs. Offering teachers pensions is by no means the problem. But most pension systems across the U.S. have been poorly designed from the start, and after […]

ESAs in Missouri: Why Things Need To Change

ESAs in Missouri

This is the second in a three-part series that looks at education savings accounts in Missouri and how they could empower every family and improve student outcomes.   There are roughly 916,000 students in Missouri’s public school system. Three-quarters of the state’s schools are Title I eligible (a proxy for school-level poverty), and roughly 45 […]

The Fiscal Impact of Nevada’s ESA Program

Nevada ESAs and Fiscal Effects

This is the first in a two-part series on Nevada’s fiscal climate and educational choice.   A common critique often put forth by school choice opponents is that these programs will divert students from districts, therefore “siphoning” resources from public schools. Nevada is no exception. Opponents worry that the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program […]

Friday Freakout: Does School Choice Increase Inequality?

Does School Choice Increase Inequality?

When Nevada enacted the nation’s first nearly universal education savings accounts (ESAs), education reformers celebrated. ESAs empower families to tailor their children’s education to meet their individual learning needs and have the potential to unleash a wave of innovation. Others, however, have been less enthusiastic. Perhaps the most common concern is the one raised recently […]

Friday Freakout: Does School Choice Destroy a Public Good?

Today’s freakout comes to us from Twitter, and its message is at the top of school choice opponents’ list of arguments. In fact, it is a favorite of Diane Ravitch’s, one of the figureheads of the anti-school choice movement. Ms. Watts argues that allowing parents to choose non-public schools for their children with the help […]

Mississippi Legislature Advances School Choice ESAs

School Choice ESAs in Mississippi

UPDATED BELOW With the advance of its school choice ESAs, Mississippi is closer to becoming the second state, behind Arizona, to adopt education savings accounts, which allow parents to withdraw their children from public schools and receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized savings accounts with restricted, but multiple, uses. Those funds can cover […]