Education Choice

Providing High-Quality Public, Private and Non-Traditional Schooling Options for all Families

Education choice allows families to choose the best educational fit for their children. It encompasses public, private and non-traditional schooling options like open enrollment public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, home schooling, online learning, education scholarship accounts, vouchers and tax-credit scholarships.

Why Empower Families with Educational Choice?  

Every child deserves access to a quality education that provides the knowledge, skills and values necessary to prepare them for a successful career and fulfilling life. Unfortunately, many children are residentially assigned to schools that don’t fit their unique needs and learning styles. Policymakers can support equitable access to those opportunities by championing the ability to choose one or more schools in one or more settings served by one or more providers.

How Can Policymakers Support All Students?

What They Are Saying

“These programs are helping students—many of them from disadvantaged families—to succeed in K-12, college and the workforce. They’re saving the state and local districts money. Most importantly, they’re giving families hope— families that in many cases would have no other way to provide their children with a quality education.” 

Rep. Valencia Stovall

Georgia House of Representatives

“Anyone with more than one kid understands that choice in education is paramount. Siblings can have the same parents, the same family income, eat the same food, and even have the same bedtime but still need wildly different things to learn. If we want a system that serves every kid, we have to recognize that one school cannot be the best for every kid.” 

Luke Ragland

President, ReadyCO

“Florida school choice has allowed my three kids to excel in different educational settings based on their individual learning styles and needs. Freedom to choose the school of your choice—be it home school, charter school, private school or public school, on-line or ‘brick and mortar’—has allowed Florida to soar to the top in education! Funds should go toward our students’ success, wherever and however they learn!” 

Annette Lizardo

Florida Parent

Public Education Choice Solutions

OPEN ENROLLMENT

Open enrollment provides the flexibility for students to attend public schools—either full time or part time—outside of their residentially assigned attendance zone. Forty-six states, plus Washington, D.C.,
have open enrollment policies.

PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools open to all students and held to state academic and financial standards. However, unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are run independently of school districts and operate under a performance contract with an authorizer (a district, the state or another approved government or nonprofit entity). In exchange for more operational autonomy, charter schools are held accountable for student success.

LEARN EVERYWHERE

Policymakers recognize that a child’s education experience happens both in and out of the classroom. Learn Everywhere policies ensure that students receive high school credit for learning that happens outside of a school setting.

The Learn Everywhere Act provides greater flexibility for students to earn credits towards high school graduation requirements through approved learning experiences outside of the classroom.

Private Education Choice Policy Solutions

EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNTS (ESAs)

ESAs are flexible spending accounts funded by the state and controlled by parents. With an ESA, parents can customize and direct funds to a combination of approved uses, such as tutoring, therapy for students with disabilities, instructional materials/curriculum, online programs, private school tuition, contracted services with school districts, exam fees and savings for future education expenses, among others.

TAX-CREDIT SCHOLARSHIPS 

To provide for tax-credit scholarships, businesses and individuals make voluntary donations to nonprofit
organizations that award private school scholarships to eligible students. In return, businesses and individuals receive a state tax credit

VOUCHERS 

Vouchers were the first form of private education choice, originally enacted in 1990 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The concept is simple, and something that had been practiced in higher education for generations: instead of sending funding directly to schools, fund a child and let them take the funds to any eligible school of their choice. 

Meet the Experts