universal school choice

Recently, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and American Center for Transforming Education Director, Keri D. Ingraham, returned to the White House. In recognition of her education work, Ingraham has received a dozen invitations over the past year. The first invitation came in March of 2025 from President Trump to attend the “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities” executive order signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House. It was a special day that provided her with the opportunity to speak individually with nine governors and many other state and national leaders. Following that, Ingraham was invited to the White House for meetings and then for the America 250 Summit in August. In September, she was invited Read More ›

Roughly $800 billion is spent annually on K-12 education, yet the National Assessment of Educational Progress results indicate that, on average, seven out of 10 public school students score below grade-level proficiency in reading and math. As I wrote in my article last month in The Daily Wire, when it comes to the pitiful student learning results in education, “The missing ingredient is not money — it’s meaningful choice.” Parents have been trapped by the government-run, teacher-union controlled K-12 public education monopoly. While federal spending accounts for only roughly 10% of overall education spending, it controls perhaps 90% of the rules and regulations. This federal bureaucracy significantly hinders the ability of states to innovate. Thankfully, for parents and the American Read More ›

National School Choice Week is a great time to celebrate the opportunities and innovations taking place in America’s K-12 education system. At the core of school choice lies this belief: parents — not bureaucrats — know what’s best for their child’s education. Every year, there are school choice highlights, but this year is marked by extraordinary advances in education freedom. While school choice legislation at the state level is underway, there’s a brand-new, transformative law at the federal level: the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship. In a remarkably short period, 26 governors have opted their states into the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship, unlocking new opportunities for families and demonstrating nationwide confidence in policies that put parents in the driver’s seat of Read More ›

For far too long, K-12 education has been dominated by monopolies — the public education system, state standardized testing, the SAT and ACT college entrance exams, Advanced Placement, and the International Baccalaureate program. The result has been soaring educational costs, declining quality, and a lack of innovation, all to the detriment of students nationwide. But one company, Classic Learning Test, is bent on bringing competitive alternatives to break up those monopolies, which have been watered down in quality and infused with woke ideologies. The Classic Learning Test (CLT) “exists to reconnect knowledge and virtue by providing meaningful assessments and connections to seekers of truth, goodness, and beauty.” To the surprise of many, the CLT isn’t just for students of classical Read More ›

This Independence Day weekend, American families had increasing reason to celebrate as education freedom is poised to span from the Pacific to the Atlantic, with the possibility of bringing school choice to children in all 50 states for the first time in our nation’s history. The passage of the federal reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes a modified version of the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), a tax-credit provision providing education scholarships for children across the country from households under 300 percent of the median income of the geographical area, beginning in 2027. Individual taxpayers can contribute to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations and receive a 100 percent nonrefundable tax credit of up to $1,700 annually. There Read More ›

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence With the 250th anniversary of our nation upon us, many are reflecting on the past while also considering the future. What makes America unique? Where is the great American experiment headed? Are our best days behind us? Is America doomed to decline? Despite all America has overcome and achieved in the past, many people hold a pessimistic outlook for our nation’s future. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan delivered a charge to the nation in his Inaugural Address. His words ring resoundingly Read More ›

With Governor Kelly Ayotte’s signature on Tuesday, New Hampshire became the first state in the Northeast and the 17th state in the nation to enact universal school choice. New Hampshire joins Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming in empowering all parents statewide with a portion of their children’s education funding to select the K-12 education avenue of their choice. Previously, New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program, which began in 2021, was restricted to only families meeting a certain household income threshold. However, during this legislative session, the state House and the Senate took up separate bills to make all students eligible for the program. On March 13, House Bill Read More ›

On Tuesday, Wyoming became the 15th state to enact universal school choice into law with Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature on the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act. The Cowboy State joins a rapidly growing group of states that have passed laws giving all (or nearly all) families statewide choice concerning their children’s kindergarten through twelfth-grade education. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. The act grants families who choose to participate with an education savings account of $7,000 per student per year to allocate toward approved K-12 educational expenses. Education savings accounts with universal eligibility are the gold standard of school choice programs due to the flexibility they provide parents to select the best learning Read More ›

Today, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act into law, bringing the total to 15 states with universal (or near-universal) school choice! Last week, Idaho Governor Brad Little ushered in school choice for families statewide. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee brought education freedom to Tennesseans a few weeks ago. Last year, Alabama and Louisiana got the job done. The year prior, 2023, included Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and North Carolina enacting universal school choice in their states. All of these wins were built upon the courageous, bold, and forward-thinking leadership of West Virginia Senator Patricia Puertas Rucker and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who led the way in 2021 and 2022, helping advance universal school choice Read More ›

Huge historical legislative victories have occurred over the past four years, advancing school choice in states nationwide. In some states, the wins have entailed the creation of new school choice programs, while in other states, it has involved expanding existing programs to reach more students. Most noteworthy has been the enactment of universal or near-universal school choice in 12 states since 2021. Introduction The public education monopoly isn’t working, and it is failing to fulfill its function to a greater degree than in years and decades past. There is a better way: education freedom, which allows parents to choose the school or other learning avenue that best fits their unique child. A few years ago, widespread school choice was nearly Read More ›