America’s School Choice Programs Ranked by Eligibility

Universal eligibility—that is, open to every single family—is the Friedman Foundation’s school choice policy goal. To coincide with the 2015 release of The ABCs of School Choice, we’ve ranked the America’s school choice programs by how close they get to our vision of 100 percent eligibility.

Importantly, as the participation rankings showed, just because a program is open to a lot of families, that doesn’t mean every household will use it. Still, it’s critical families have that safety net should they need it.

And as we’ll show tomorrow, it’s also imperative states give school choice students adequate purchasing power. Although the top seven programs below have 100 percent eligibility, their combined average per-student funding doesn’t even get close to the average $12,608 spent per pupil in America’s public schools in 2012-13.

1. Illinois Tax Credits for Educational Expenses
Tax credit/deduction | 100% eligibility
-the nation’s largest individual tax credit program for educational expenses

2. Iowa Tuition and Textbook Tax Credit
Tax credit/deduction | 100% eligibility

3. Minnesota Education Deduction
Tax credit/deduction | 100% eligibility

4. Ohio Cleveland Scholarship Program
Voucher | 100% eligibility

5. Wisconsin K-12 Private School Tuition Deduction
Tax credit/deduction | 100% eligibility

6. Arizona Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 100% eligibility

7. Arizona “Switcher” Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 100% eligibility 

8. Colorado Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program*
Voucher | 95% eligibility

9. Georgia Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit
Tax-credit scholarship | 94% eligibility 

10. Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships
Tax-credit scholarship| 79% eligibility 

11. New Hampshire Education Tax Credit Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 65% eligibility

12. Ohio Income-Based Scholarship Program
Voucher | 61% eligibility 

13. Wisconsin Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
Voucher | 58% eligibility 

14. Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 56% eligibility 

15. Alabama Education Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 55% eligibility

16. Arizona Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 52% eligibility 

17. Indiana School Scholarship Tax Credit
Tax-credit scholarship | 50% eligibility

18. Indiana Choice Scholarship Program
Voucher | 41% eligibility 
-the nation’s largest voucher program

19. Louisiana Scholarship Program
Voucher | 41% eligibility

20. Louisiana Tuition Donation Rebate Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 41% eligibility

21. Wisconsin Parental Private School Choice Program (Racine)
Voucher | 39% eligibility 

22. North Carolina Opportunity Scholarships
Voucher | 35% eligibility 

23. Iowa School Tuition Organization Tax Credit
Tax-credit scholarship | 34% eligibility

24. Virginia Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 32% eligibility 

25. Rhode Island Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Organizations
Tax-credit scholarship | 30% eligibility

26. D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program
Voucher | 29% eligibility 

27. Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 29% eligibility

28. Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts
ESA | 20% eligibility 
-the nation’s first and largest education savings account program

29. Minnesota K-12 Education Credit
Tax credit/deduction | 18% eligibility

30. Oklahoma Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities
Voucher | 15% eligibility

31. Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (Statewide)
Voucher | 15% eligibility 

32. Louisiana Elementary and Secondary School Tuition Deduction
Tax credit/deduction | 14% eligibility

33. Kansas Tax Credit for Low Income Students Scholarships**
Tax-credit scholarship | 14% eligibility

34. Ohio Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program
Voucher | 14% eligibility 

35. South Carolina Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children
Tax-credit scholarship | 13% eligibility

36. Florida John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program
Voucher | 13% eligibility 

37. Utah Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship Program
Voucher | 13% eligibility 

38. Florida Personal Learning Scholarship Account Program
ESA | 12% eligibility 

39. North Carolina Special Education Scholarship Grants for Children with Disabilities
Voucher | 12 % eligibility

40. Arizona Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 12% eligibility

41. Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program
Voucher | 11% eligibility 

42. Indiana Private School/Homeschool Deduction
Tax credit/deduction | 10% eligibility

43. Pennsylvania Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program
Tax-credit scholarship | 7% eligibility 

44. Louisiana School Choice Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities
Voucher | 6% eligibility

45. Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Program
Voucher | 6% eligibility 

46. Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 Parent/Taxpayer Refundable Tax Credits
Tax credit/rebate | 4% eligibility

47.  Maine Town Tuitioning Program
Voucher | 9% eligibility

48. Mississippi Nate Rogers Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program
Voucher | 3% eligibility

49. Vermont Town Tuitioning Program
Voucher | 3% eligibility 

50. Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for Students with Dyslexia Program
Voucher | 2% eligibility

51. Ohio Autism Scholarship Program
Voucher | 1% eligibility 

*Program is not currently operating.
**Program is not yet launched.

For a closer look at each program’s eligibility, visit edchoice.org/ABCs.