Push for Private Options in Education Gains Momentum
More statehouses weigh measures allowing taxpayer funds to be used on alternative programs
A growing number of statehouses are considering measures that would allow school districts, parents and students increasingly to use taxpayer funds to explore alternatives to traditional state-backed public education.
The flurry of new bills—which range from supporting private-school options to putting education dollars directly into parents’ hands—comes amid concerns of federal overreach in schools and a backlash against the widespread implementation of common education benchmarks and standardized testing.
It has also gained momentum from elections last November that increased state legislatures’ numbers of Republican lawmakers—traditionally backers of school choice.
A bill that passed in the Nevada Assembly Thursday proposes tax credits for businesses that support private-school scholarships. Meanwhile, a measure to establish so-called education savings accounts, which put state funds into special savings accounts for some parents to pay for certain services directly, on Thursday passed in both chambers in Mississippi. This latest form of flexibility has caught the eyes of legislators in many states since Arizona and Florida began programs in recent years.
So far this year, at least 34 states are considering proposals to create or amend programs that offer private education options, up from 29 last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The number of states considering education savings accounts has doubled to 16 since 2014.
“It is looking like this year could beat 2011 in the number of states that expand or adopt new educational choice programs,” said Jason Bedrick, who generally supports the changes as a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Some 13 states enacted legislation in 2011, seen as a watershed year for new schooling options.
Supporters of such measures say students benefit from a more competitive educational field that can cater better to their specific needs.
Critics worry the policies hamper progress in traditional schools, which can lose funding when students leave their classrooms, and point to uneven academic performances in alternative programs.
The policies got a boost from elections in November, which vaulted Republicans to the largest number of state lawmakers in nearly a century, as well as from recent flash points in education such as Common Core, the set of math and reading standards adopted in more than 40 states and supported by some federal policies. As parents’ concerns over standardized exams have surfaced, some have opted to pull their children out of the tests.
Nonprofit groups such as the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and the Foundation for Excellence in Education have also been pushing for options like education savings accounts.
Meanwhile, efforts to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law in Congress this year have opened a wider discussion about the federal government’s role in schools, with lawmakers such as Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, vowing to return power to the states and local schools.
“Definitely, the narrative of rising hesitation to new assessments and standards, plus the fear of federal-government intrusion, plays in well with these policies,” said Josh Cunningham, a senior policy specialist at the conference of state legislatures.
School Shakeup
At least 34 states are considering proposals to create or amend alternative schooling options.
School vouchers
State-funded scholarships that pay for students to attend private school
Education savings accounts/grants
Savings accounts from which parents can withdraw funds for certain educational expenses
Scholarship tax credits
Allows individuals and corporations to direct part of their state taxes to nonprofits that provide scholarships
Personal tax credits and deductions
States may offer tax breaks to parents as a form of reimbursement for private-school tuition and expenses
In Minnesota, Sen. David Hann, GOP minority leader of the Senate, introduced a bill this month to provide education savings accounts to parents of special-needs students. Though the measure remains in the Senate’s education committee, he hopes it will be a conversation starter.
“We have to have a change in the process of education, one that allows parents and families to have a meaningful voice in the education of their child,” he said.
Some play down the spate of measures, noting that of the dozens of bills focused on new education choices introduced last year, 13 passed into law in 10 states, according to the Education Commission of the States, a nonprofit focusing on education research.
Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union, describes the state bills as an effort to privatize public education, and says that as more families try new options like charter schools—independently run public schools—they are becoming disillusioned with the results.
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee has wrestled with educational choice. While acknowledging the district’s struggles to improve its low-performing schools, officials say efforts that direct focus away from traditional schools undermine their progress. Vouchers to attend private school, which first began in Wisconsin, drained $56 million from the district last year, according to school officials. In response, the district increased the local tax levy.
April Willis, a 34-year-old nursing assistant in Milwaukee, said money should go to public schools rather than less traditional options, arguing strong schools make a strong community. She sends her 8-year-old daughter to Gwen T. Jackson Early Childhood and Push for Private Options in Education Gains Momentum - WSJ:
