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Nevada created an education model for the nation in 2015 when it passed into law an education savings account (ESA) program under which more than 96 percent of all K–12 students are eligible for ESA funding (90–100 percent of the state’s average education funding for each child). This currently is the most sustainable, inclusive, equitable […]
A recent study led by Northwestern economist David Figlio on Ohio’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program is a case of good news and bad news. To be sure, it provides an occasion to celebrate the positive findings. But the less favorable results should cause us to pause and consider ways to strengthen school voucher policy. This […]
Nearly 8,000 Nevada students have signed up for a program that would give them the power to use state funds to create an educational plan tailored for their individual needs. It’s called an education savings account (ESA), and it became the law of the land in Nevada last year. Under the ESA program, state officials […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona – Michael Chartier @mchart1 The Arizona Auditor General released a performance audit on the nation’s first education savings accounts (ESAs): Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. The auditor’s main findings were that the Arizona Department of Education established methods for distributing the accounts and found a way to prevent and resolve fraud. Visit the Goldwater Institute’s […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Arizona – Michael Chartier @mchart1 The Arizona legislature expanded the states education savings account (ESA) program by making children who are legally blind and/or deaf or hard of hearing eligible. The state also opened the ESA program to a year-round application window. Arkansas – Brittany Corona @BrittanyLCorona Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed on May 9 the state’s 2016–17 budget, […]
Maine legislator and presidential hopeful James G. Blaine (1830–1893) was a member of Congress in the mid- to late 1800s, a time when Catholic immigrants were flooding into the country and public schools were overwhelmingly Protestant. Catholic immigrant students were encouraged to assimilate in public schools. Desiring an educational option that was consistent with their […]
LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION Georgia – Brittany Corona @BrittanyLCorona HB 243 was recommitted to be heard in the Georgia House Ways and Means on April 2. The bill would create a nearly universal education savings account (ESA) program for any student in the Peach state who was enrolled in public school the preceding school year. You […]
Arizona – Michael Chartier @mchart1 The House Appropriations Committee amended SB 1279, formerly a bill for a phase-in universal education savings account (ESA) program, to include only those children who qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. The amended bill must now pass a vote on the House floor. Kansas – Michael […]
After narrow defeat in 2015, Virginia may become the sixth state to adopt innovative education savings accounts (ESAs). The Virginia legislature passed a statewide ESA for students with special needs, HB 389, earlier this month. The Parental Choice Education Savings Account (PCESA) program now awaits Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s signature. If signed, HB 389 will provide […]
Today the Colorado Supreme Court delivered a disappointing decision for hundreds of Douglas County students by ruling the first locally established school choice program in the country—the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program—unconstitutional. About the Program The Douglas County Board of Education unanimously voted to create the program in March 2011, enacting the first and […]