Three states, Wyoming, Tennessee, and Idaho, signed universal private school choice programs into law this year, increasing the total number of states with universal choice programs to 14. According to EdChoice, one million students are now eligible for private school scholarships.
Nearly 50 years ago, more than 90% of students were enrolled in public schools nationwide, with less than 10% attending private schools and only 20,000 students homeschooling.
But during the 1980s and ‘90s, more parents began to look for better fits for their children, and cracks started to show in traditional public schools’ monopoly: charter schools and open enrollment laws were codified, letting students attend public schools other than their residentially assigned ones.
Today, “public education is on the verge of an unprecedented crack-up. In fact, it’s already underway,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Robert Pondiscio argues. In the past decade, state lawmakers in these 14 states expanded targeted private school choice programs so that all or nearly all students could use public funds to pay tuition at private schools.
These reforms officially broke the dam on private school choice as state after state codified expansive private school choice laws. Already, these laws are changing the educational landscape in those states.
As Figure 1 shows, more than 1.8 million students in six states used public funds to attend public or private schools of their choice. Delaware and Colorado do not have publicly funded private school choice programs. These states were chosen on data availability.
Figure 1: Students using publicly funded school choice in select states
In these six states, charter schools gained the lion’s share of the students leaving public schools—859,000 students or 45% overall. Open enrollment, meanwhile, was the second most common form of school choice in these states, accounting for 36% of transfers or 686,000 students. Lastly, more than 351,000 students or 19%, used private school scholarships to attend private schools.
In states that lack private school choice programs, students participated in public school choice programs at high rates. For instance, in Colorado and Delaware, 28% and 22% of traditional public school students, respectively, used open enrollment to attend a school other than their assigned ones.
Today, education marketplaces in states such as Florida and Arizona are experiencing major growth with the introduction of universal private school choice programs. Notably, the number of students using public funds to attend schools other than their residentially assigned ones increased by about 150,000 Florida and 49,000 Arizona students—increases of 19% and 14%, respectively—between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
Overall, these data indicate that parents and students are increasingly choosing public or private school options other than their residentially assigned ones as they seek schools that are a better fit for their academic and family needs.
Across the country, declining birth rates and increased student mobility mean that traditional public schools can no longer assume guaranteed market dominance. In this new education landscape after the COVID-19 pandemic, public schools must consider dynamic strategies to attract and retain students.
There are signs this is happening. For instance, the four finalists for the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year all hailed from public school districts in states with universal or near-universal private school choice programs. According to Edweek, each of these superintendents stated that developing “school-to-career pipelines” were key to making “public schools a competitive option for students.”
This sort of innovation is how charter and private schools have carved out niches in the education marketplace. It’s time that public schools responded in kind, creating a diverse schooling ecosystem that is responsive to students’ needs and interests.
From the States
In other important education and school choice developments across the country, as mentioned briefly above, policymakers passed private school choice laws in Wyoming, Tennessee, and Idaho. School choice proposals also advanced in Missouri and New Hampshire.
Gov. Bill Lee signed House Bill 6004 into law in Tennessee, establishing an education savings account program. As of 2025, 20,000 students can receive scholarships valued at $7,100 to pay for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. Applicants from low-income families will receive priority. The number of scholarships will increase by 5,000 each year after 2026 if 75% or more of available scholarships from the previous year are distributed.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 93, codifying a $50 million tax-credit scholarship program that provides recipients with scholarships valued at $5,000, which could pay for private school tuition, tutoring, and other approved education expenses. Students with disabilities are eligible to receive $7,500 scholarships.
Gov. Mark Gordon signed Wyoming House Bill (H.B.) 199 into law, establishing a universal education savings account program. Participants can receive scholarships valued at $7,000 to pay for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. In a victory for homeschoolers, Gov. Gordon also signed H.B. 46, eliminating existing regulations that made homeschooling families share their curricula with the local school district.
Missouri House Bill 711 passed the House and is headed to the state Senate. The proposal would establish a voluntary open enrollment program and let school districts cap the number of departing students at 3% of the previous year’s enrollment.
The New Hampshire House passed House Bill 115, and the state Senate passed Senate Bill 295, both of which would make the state’s Education Freedom Accounts universal. Scholarship recipients can use these accounts to pay for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. If codified, the proposal would expand income eligibility over two years so that all students would be eligible to receive an average account valued at $5,400 per year during the 2024-25 school year. The Senate will now consider the bill.
In Texas, the Senate Education K-16 Committee approved Senate Bill 686, which would establish a strong open enrollment law. It would ensure that Texas students could attend any public school, regardless of where they live, for free—without being charged transfer fees. If signed into law, the proposal would improve Texas’s grade from an ‘F’ to an ‘A’ in Reason Foundation’s open enrollment best practices scoresheet, moving the state up to fourth best in the rankings.
What to Watch
Oklahoma Catholic charter school takes its arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court and the White House seemingly tones down plans to dissolve the U.S. Department of Education.
The U.S. Supreme Court has taken a case about Oklahoma’s Catholic charter school claims that it faced religious discrimination after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the state board of education to rescind its contract. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the state and U.S. Constitution “prohibit the State from using public money for the establishment of a religious institution.” The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear the case on April 30.
After numerous reports that President Donald Trump would issue an executive order calling on U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to shut down the Department of Education, the administration did not do so. As many legal experts have noted and the secretary has announced, the agency can not be eliminated unless Congress votes to do so. However, the department announced its plans to cut its 4,133-person workforce in half. According to Chalkbeat, one-third of the agency’s workers will be eliminated due to a “reduction in force,” and additional staffing cuts will occur via “voluntary buyouts.”
The Latest from Reason Foundation
–Open enrollment is a school choice policy that both blue and red states can embrace
While many perceive school choice as a red state phenomenon, K-12 open enrollment bucks this trend. Statewide open enrollment laws, which allow students to attend any public school with open seats, have succeeded in seven states, including California, Colorado, Delaware, and Kansas, whose governments were either purple or leaned blue when the laws were passed.
Figure 2: States’ political leanings when codifying statewide open enrollment laws
–Debunking Missouri’s K-12 open enrollment fears
While opponents of open enrollment in Missouri claim that it would create fiscal chaos for public schools and force school closures, these fears are overwrought. Data from other states show that open enrollment helps rural school districts attract students, helps struggling school districts improve their educational programs, and can serve as a stabilizing revenue stream to districts.
–Nebraska aims to have the third-best open enrollment policy nationwide
Nebraska’s open enrollment policy currently scores a grade of B on Reason Foundation’s open enrollment scoresheet of best practices. However, if Legislative Bill 557 is signed into law, it could boost the state’s score to a grade of A.
–Southern California school districts are serving fewer students and facing massive budget deficits
–California bill would make public school interdistrict transfer program more accessible
–Iowa House File 68 would be a step backward for open enrollment
Recommended reading
Student Well-Being, School Choice, Higher Ed Top Governors’ Priorities for 2025
Bella DiMarco at The74
“School choice remains a key topic this year, with 15 governors addressing the issue. While initiatives to let families use public money for private schooling dominated the discussion, several governors proposed expanding public-school choice, sometimes alongside private-school initiatives.”
Many Children Left Behind: The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress Results Indicate a Five-Alarm Fire
Mark Schneider at The American Enterprise Institute
“The 2024 NAEP scores underline a continuing decline in educational achievement in the United States. For years following the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the nation focused on the noble but unattainable goal of bringing all our students up to NAEP’s proficiency level. This two-decades-long focus on proficiency hid one of the most damaging—and worsening—trends in American education: the growing number of students who don’t even meet NAEP’s “basic” level of performance.”
The Anti-D.E.I. Crusader Who Wants to Dismantle the Department of Education
Ross Douthat at The New York Times
Douthat: “A big reason that American education writ large is left leaning is that many people who go into it are left leaning. You and I know this very well. Some of my best friends are left-leaning graduates of America’s many fine educational schools. It just seems like it’s sort of pre-emptive despair on the part of conservatives to say, Well, we have political control over this agency that has a certain kind of influence over American education, and we’re just going to give it up because we can’t find enough people.”
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