"School Choice"

Unless you've been avoiding all media (I can't say I'd blame you for that), you have certainly heard the terms "private school vouchers" and "school choice." These are closely related topics, though not quite the same thing. School choice indicates the broad freedom of parents to choose the best educational setting for their child, whether that be public, private, charter, or homeschool. Whereas private school voucher programs refer to the use of public funds (tax dollars) to pay for students' private school.

Neither are new concepts. Although, in preparing to write this post, I was surprised by just how new they are because I thought both had been around longer. For example, homeschooling did not become legal in all 50 states until the 1980s and 1990s. Prior to that, families who did not send their kids to school could face legal challenges, including jail time and the removal of their children to foster care. I didn't know that! Also, the first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991. Since then, the District of Columbia and all but five states (Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont) have passed charter school laws.

Before we go any farther, let's briefly define each of these educational settings.

• Public school- Probably the most familiar means of receiving an education in the U.S., public school is school funded by public money (federal, state, and local tax dollars) to provide a state and locally approved curriculum to K-12 students. It is tuition free and serves all students within a designated geographic area. In fact, public schools MUST serve all students who live within their district borders, regardless of race, gender, disability, economic status, national origin, religion, or immigration status.

• Private school- Private schools are educational settings that are not funded primarily by public money (tax dollars) and therefore charge tuition. They are founded and conducted by non-government entities, like a private for-profit business, a charitable organization, or a religious organization. Unlike public schools, private schools are not required to serve every student who lives in their district. They are free to set their own admissions criteria. They do not have to accept students with disabilities. And private schools that do accept students with disabilities are not required to provide an IEP. It should be noted that private schools specifically for learners with disabilities exist and are often disability specific (e.g. dyslexia, autism, deaf, etc).

• Charter school- Charter schools are kind of a mash up of public and private. They are publicly funded but operate independently under a contract or "charter" with a state or district. Because they are publicly funded, they do not charge tuition. They have greater autonomy than public schools and are meant to have greater accountability for their performance. If they fail to meet their performance standards, they could have their charter revoked. In general, student performance is similar between public and charter schools. Cyber charter schools, however, tend to have poorer performance and less accountability. Charter schools are controversial because they siphon funds away from traditional public schools. And while technically charter schools may not discriminate, they tend to enroll fewer students with disabilities overall. The students with disabilities that they do enroll have specific learning disabilities, other health impairments (e.g. ADHD), and speech/language impairments. Notably absent from charter schools are students with higher support needs, like those with autism or an intellectual disability.

• Homeschool- Homeschooling is an educational approach where the parent or guardian takes responsibility for their learner's education. There is a lot of flexibility for personalized learning, scheduling, and location. Clearly there is no tuition involved, but there will be some costs when purchasing curricular material and tutoring, if desired. Local school districts are under no obligation to provide special education services to children who are homeschooled.

With that introduction out of the way, let's get to the point of this post- The Controversy of "School Choice." For the rest of this post, the term "school choice" will be used to indicate any program in which public funds are used for options other than public schools.

I'll just tell you right now- I love and support public education. There are sharp criticisms of public education, and I won't pretend that it's perfect. But I believe conversations should focus on investing in our public schools, not on diverting resources to alternatives. Our public schools are an investment that educate EVERYONE, regardless of race, gender, disability, economic status, national origin, religion, or immigration status. When no one is excluded, it ensures individual opportunity as well as the health of our nation. I'll say that again.

When no one is excluded, it ensures individual opportunity as well as the health of our nation.

This is the number one reason why I have a problem with school choice programs. They exclude children. For example, an article* came out of Texas where SB 2 was just signed into law. SB 2 establishes an Education Savings Account (ESA) program allowing eligible students to direct funding toward their choice of preapproved educational providers and services such as private school tuition, instructional materials, and educational therapies. The state has allocated $1 billion in funding for the 2026-2027 school year. The article focuses on students with disabilities. There are 52 accredited private schools in Texas that specialize in serving students with disabilities. Forty-two of them responded to the writers of the article. Of those 42, the minimum ESA allotment for students with disabilities ($11,500) covers tuition in only three of them. There is a maximum allotment of $30,000 that would cover tuition in 26 of them. That means that $30,000 is still not enough in 16 of these. Furthermore, the 52 accredited private schools are concentrated in the cities of Texas, leaving families outside of Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio with few to no options. Many students with disabilities will effectively be excluded from participating in "school choice" due to geography (no private school near their home) or economics (inability to pay the difference between tuition and ESA allotment).

*Click on the link to read the article and/or watch the news story. (about 7.5 minutes long).

Maybe it will be okay for most students with disabilities. Maybe they don't need a specialized school. I mean, if none are available, they'll just stay in their neighborhood public school, right?

Therein lies the number two reason I have a problem with school choice programs- they take public money away from public education. There are certainly school choice advocates out there who refute this argument, saying the public dollars simply follow the student. But let's continue to look at Texas as an example. The ESA allotment per child is $10,000 with a range of $11,500 - $30,000 for students with disabilities. Depending on the source you use, Texas spends $6,100 - $15,000 per student in public education. The range is due to differences in looking at the basic allotment ($6,100) to taking the total amount of education dollars in the budget ($85.3 billion) divided by number of students (about 5.5 million). Here is an article that explores the difference in those two amounts. My point is, ESAs will follow the child, taking those dollars away from local public schools. But lower enrollment at your local public school doesn't translate into lower operational costs. Those schools still need to keep the lights on, pay their (astronomically high) insurance costs, maintain buildings, and so on. For those students who have no other alternative, whether due to geography or economics, they will be left in a public school with fewer and fewer resources.

School choice advocates will say that school choice programs empower parents to select schools that best fit their children's needs. The reality is, school choice only empowers some parents. Many families, especially families with disabled students, will be excluded from realizing any benefit from "school choice." Rather, they will be left with no choice but to stay in their local public school that will face greater and greater challenges with fewer and fewer resources.

It's not that I want to deny families the freedom to choose schools that work for them. The truth is that this is a complex and deeply nuanced subject. But my gut and my brain tell me that there are not systems in place to ensure that "school choice" won't leave students with disabilities as an afterthought. By and large, students with disabilities, particularly those with more significant support needs, will be excluded from meaningful "school choice."

*Here is an article that talks about the anger around the school choice debate. I liked it and wanted to share.

To ensure that no one is excluded, to make sure ALL students are provided an excellent education, we must start treating public education as the serious investment it was always meant to be.