Private school choice has taken hold across the United States and shows few signs of slowing down. GOP lawmakers in close to a dozen states are signaling that it鈥檚 among their top legislative priorities in 2025.
Even so, elected officials and education advocates across the political spectrum continue to debate these policies鈥� effects on state budgets, student learning, and the public school system.
At the start of the year, 28 states and the District of Columbia each had at least one program that supplies public funds for parents to spend on educational options outside of public schools. Twelve of those states make, or are on track to make, all of the state鈥檚 K-12 students eligible to apply for some combination of vouchers, education savings accounts, tax-credit scholarships, and direct tax credits, according to Education Week鈥檚 private school choice tracker.
Those numbers will likely grow soon.
Lawmakers in six states鈥�, , , , , and 鈥攁re contemplating new programs that would dedicate public funds for parents to spend on private schooling. Three of those states鈥擪ansas, North Dakota, and Texas鈥攚ould be introducing private school choice for the first time.
Another six states that already offer private school choice to a limited number of students鈥�, , , , , and 鈥攁re weighing proposals to expand eligibility or invest more in existing programs.
Of these 12 states, all but Kansas and Pennsylvania have a Republican governor. All but Pennsylvania and Virginia have a GOP-controlled legislature.
Congress, meanwhile, is more likely than ever to join in on the state-level action, as Republicans assume majorities in both chambers. Even before the November election, House GOP lawmakers were to invest as much as $10 billion a year for a tax-credit program that rewards individuals and corporations nationwide who donate to organizations that offer private-school scholarships. If passed, that program would supplement existing state offerings.
鈥淲here this kind of program will be most beneficial is you鈥檒l now be able to have real school choice in California, Washington, Oregon, and Connecticut,鈥� said Robert Enlow, president and CEO of EdChoice, the national nonprofit that serves as the leading advocate for private school choice. 鈥淭he real challenge will be to make sure that it doesn鈥檛 negatively impact the programs that are already existing.鈥� Those four states are all led by Democrats and don鈥檛 have programs letting parents spend public funds on private school.
Also this year, the percentage of America鈥檚 54 million K-12 students who are eligible for private school choice, and the amount of public money spent nationwide on private educational expenses, will grow significantly, as Indiana follows the lead of Arizona, Ohio, and West Virginia and makes all K-12 students eligible for private education subsidies. Alabama and Wyoming also recently began applications for more limited private school choice offerings, though Alabama鈥檚 offering is on track to be universally accessible in the coming years.
鈥淚f people are leveraging these programs and see them as valuable, then it鈥檚 going to be harder to undo them and easier to maintain them,鈥� said Josh McGee, an associate professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas.
Debates over the merits of private school choice continue to rage
Proponents of these policies are expecting 2025 to build on recent momentum. They鈥檒l have a federal champion in President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed that his choice for education secretary will push to 鈥渆xpand 鈥楥hoice鈥� to every State in America.鈥�
For the time being, most of the energy around private school choice is in Republican-dominated states. But with a new nationwide offering in the works, and pockets of interest from elected Democrats in and , leading advocates have their eyes on .
Private school choice is far from universally beloved, though.
In November, Nebraska became the first state where a majority of voters () overturned a private school choice program already in existence. A majority of voters in all of Kentucky鈥檚 nearly 200 counties rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have affirmed the legality of school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers. And in Colorado, 50.7 percent of voters nixed a .
Meanwhile, high-profile ongoing lawsuits in , , , , and charge that existing private school choice programs violate state constitutions. Plaintiffs in those cases鈥攊ncluding public school parents and advocates, teachers鈥� unions, and school districts themselves鈥攈ope to replicate their peers鈥� recent success in South Carolina, where the state supreme court ruled in September that the state鈥檚 education savings account offering can鈥檛 legally go toward private school tuition. (South Carolina lawmakers are to revive the ESA program using a different funding source.)
Critiques of private school choice programs come from many angles.
Elected Republicans in rural areas have traditionally resisted their party鈥檚 push for private school choice because their constituents don鈥檛 live near many alternatives to public schools. More than half of Tennessee鈥檚 95 counties, for example, don鈥檛 have a single private school that could accept education savings accounts if the program expanded statewide, according to .
Private school choice offerings prompt legal questions as well. Many state constitutions 鈥攐ften the biggest beneficiaries of private school choice funding. In Idaho, for instance, . The .
Are private school choice programs reaching kids who might benefit most?
Meanwhile, many of the programs touted as lifelines for students from low-income families cover only a fraction of the steep cost to attend private school. In Tennessee, the proposed ESA amount per student鈥攔oughly $9,000鈥攚ould cover tuition at fewer than 1 in 5 of the state鈥檚 private schools, the Tennessean鈥檚 found. Private schools in Iowa and other states have even raised tuition in the wake of expanded choice programs, .
Moreover, the presence of school choice opportunities doesn鈥檛 inherently mean the students who most need more options are taking advantage, recently published research shows.
Leah Clark, an economist and public policy researcher, analyzed educational data for more than 7,000 kindergarteners in Pittsburgh. Roughly 12 percent of those children, from low- and high-income families alike, had been the subject of child welfare reports, indicating they鈥檇 potentially experienced some combination of child abuse, parental drug use, homelessness, and mental health challenges.
Those students were less likely to attend private school or take advantage of other choice opportunities than the rest of their peers, according to a . That statistically significant disparity persisted even among children in higher-income households, Clark found.
This research isn鈥檛 specifically centered around the effects of a private school choice program. But, Clark said, it raises questions about the value of expanding choice options when those already available aren鈥檛 reaching the families who hypothetically need them the most.
鈥淎re you empowering parents that want to be empowered, or are you trying to improve educational outcomes for the most disadvantaged students?鈥� Clark said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think all of these systems are designed to do the latter.鈥�
It remains tricky to determine the effects of private school choice
Knowing exactly what private school choice programs are doing remains a puzzle for even the most diligent observers.
Researchers for the RAND Corporation that no state鈥檚 ESA program currently meets all the criteria researchers would need to meaningfully compare participating students鈥� experiences with those of their public school peers. All the programs either lack sufficient achievement data from participating students; haven鈥檛 been around long enough; include a sample size of students that鈥檚 too small; or aren鈥檛 similar enough, in terms of dollars spent per student, to public school funding in their state.
Enlow sees the lack of uniformity as an asset to the private school choice push.
鈥淭he conversation has to focus a little less on a mechanistic way that public schools are held accountable,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his will fail as an idea if all schools look like public schools in 20 years.鈥�
Part of the difficulty with assessing these programs comes down to how they鈥檝e been rolled out, said Matt Chingos, vice president of the work, education, and labor division at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit think tank.
He and colleagues have published papers with evidence that some private school choice programs make participating students鈥攑articularly Black and Hispanic students鈥�, and that increased competition in a local education market can put .
But comparing public and private school students becomes more difficult for programs that don鈥檛 require participating students to have ever attended public school, Chingos said.
More generally, these programs are changing so rapidly that research findings, which take years to finalize, quickly become dated.
鈥淏y the time you get the evidence, the evidence is old,鈥� he said.
With or without concrete data, Chingos said, supporters and proponents alike appear to be doubling down on their views. Several states have , like requiring participating students to take the state exams public school students take, and publishing test scores in ways that facilitate meaningful comparison.
Those developments concern Chingos.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e really right about this, the data should back you up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not, you should care about that and want to change the program in some way so it does work.鈥�
New private school choice programs could all look different
Republican control of state legislatures doesn鈥檛 instantly translate to new private school choice policies. In states where political conditions appear favorable, politicians are sparring over how these programs should work.
Texas is the nation鈥檚 biggest state without a private school choice program of any kind. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been pushing to change that for years. After a last-ditch effort to tie a private school choice bill to a long-delayed increase in annual aid to public schools , Abbott directed millions of dollars into political campaigns to defeat state lawmakers opposed to his efforts.
The day after the 2024 elections, he declared in both chambers of the state legislature to pass.
Since then, several school boards across the state have opposing all forms of private school choice. Instead, they鈥檙e urging lawmakers bent on introducing private school choice to prioritize accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility.
In Texas and elsewhere, lawmakers have lots of details to work out: How much money will each eligible student receive? How much funding will be allocated to the program each year? Which groups of students will be eligible? Which accountability standards for public schools will also apply to participating private schools?
There鈥檚 no guarantee lawmakers will answer those questions the same way their peers in other states have.
Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, during the last days of his term-limited tenure, , but with a twist unlike in any other state: Every student in the state would get a savings account, no matter where they go to school, to use for expenses as wide-ranging as public school field trips and activity fees to private school tuition and transportation.
The proposal may be a product of the heavily rural state鈥檚 current education landscape. More than 95 percent of students attend public school, private schools are few and far between, and the state constitution explicitly prohibits spending public funds on 鈥渟ectarian鈥� schools.
Even so, state lawmakers are likely to have varied ideas about how to structure the program, said Aimee Copas, executive director of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders, a coalition of numerous associations for school administrators. Some want every student to get an equal amount of money, while others are already signaling they want each private school student to get thousands more than their public school peers.
鈥淭here are some interesting models being proposed,鈥� Copas said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l see which spaghetti sticks to the wall.鈥�
Policymakers have to balance their eagerness to expand school choice with tax relief goals
Lawmakers across the country will have to balance enthusiasm for expanding school choice with another perennial goal: lowering property taxes.
Close to two-thirds of North Dakota voters last November to eliminate property taxes altogether.
But politicians in many states are keenly aware that homeowners and business groups will be wary of sacrificing tax relief for major new investments like private school choice. And public school districts themselves harbor many concerns and frustrations about these programs鈥攊ncluding, in places like Iowa, where they鈥檝e already resulted in lower revenue for districts to spend on the vulnerable students they serve.
Groups representing school districts in South Dakota are that Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, is proposing to increase public school funding by less than half the rate of inflation, even as she introduces a new cost to the budget with $4 million for ESAs. In Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin emphasized that growing state revenue collections, not existing money in the education budget, would pay for his .
It remains to be seen how many states will see expanded private school choice during upcoming legislative sessions. But there鈥檚 no doubt that the education landscape is on track to become even more complex.
鈥淲e like to talk about school choice and these private school choice programs broadly, and put them into a large bucket,鈥� said McGee, of the University of Arkansas. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 huge variation in how these things are structured.鈥�
