BRIEF: School Choice in the States, September 2017

LEGISLATION AND LITIGATION

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a budget bill that increased the income limit to participate in Wisconsin’s statewide voucher program from 185 percent of the federal poverty line (about $45,500 for a family of four) to 220 percent (about $54,000 for a family of four). The bill also eliminated the requirement that students with special needs first attend a district school. Click here for more details from Wisconsin’s private school choice programs.

IN OTHER NEWS

Indiana

EdChoice released a new survey of Indiana parents. Among many other findings, this study found that awareness of Indiana’s school choice programs among public district and charter school parents is low. Parents who use Indiana’s school choice programs are overwhelmingly satisfied and find it easy to find and enroll in their schools of choice. And at least half of parents who use Indiana’s private school choice programs say they are more involved in their children’s schooling now than they were in their previous schools, most of which were district schools. To learn more, visit Why Indiana Parents Choose.

Florida

The Urban Institute released a study of Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program in September: The Effects of Statewide Private School Choice on College Enrollment and Graduation. According to redefinED, the study found that “the ‘triply disadvantaged’ students who participate in the nation’s largest private school choice program enroll in college and obtain degrees at higher rates than like students in public schools, and those rates climb the longer the students use the scholarship.”