2024 Solutions Spotlight: Parental Empowerment Through School Choice

Last year was another massive success for American students and families as more states implement programs designed to empower parents and provide more choice in education. In all, 10 different states have now implemented universal school choice programs, including eight in 2023 alone. State leaders are challenging the notion that public dollars must be sent directly to public school districts and are instead recognizing that money should follow the student to wherever they will achieve the most. Education Savings Accounts allow states to send education dollars into managed accounts where parents oversee spending the money on anything education-related (books, uniforms, supplies, testing fees, tuition, etc.).

Today, the 10 states that have passed universal education freedom policies include Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia.

As we outline in our new ALEC Index of State Education Freedom, states can also expand education freedom though policies on charter schools, open enrollment, homeschooling, and virtual schools.

• Model Policy
  • The Hope Scholarship Act
  • Protecting Religious Homeschooling Act
  • Next Generation Charter Schools Act
  • Open Enrollment Act

• Publication
  •  The ALEC Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment

• OP-ED
  •  Fox News: Every Child Deserves Education Freedom. Let’s Take It Nationwide

For more policy ideas, check out our new publication, Essential Policy Solutions for 2024.