Introduction
For nearly 25 years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has published the Report Card on American Education, ranking the states based on a variety of performance indicators in K-12 education. The next generation of this important publication, The ALEC Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment, will take its place moving forward. This new publication is forward-looking and evaluates each state on essential policies that change students’ lives by empowering parents and families with choice in education.
The ALEC Index of Education Freedom focuses on five categories of state education policy: funding and financing programs, charter schools, homeschooling, virtual schooling, and open enrollment. States are increasingly recognizing that each student has his or her own unique needs, background, and learning style, and these new rankings focus on state-level policies that maximize educational opportunity for all students.