It’s Progress, But Not Fast Enough: Living Up to Milton Friedman’s Vision of Universal Choice

Today marks the birthday of one arguably the most influential economist of the 20th century, Milton Friedman. Born on July 31, 1912, Friedman’s work has left an indelible mark on numerous fields, including education. As we celebrate his life and legacy, it’s essential to reflect on his profound impact on educational freedom and how his ideas continue to shape the landscape of education today.

Milton Friedman’s Vision for Education

One of Friedman’s most significant contributions to the issue of education is the concept of school vouchers, which he introduced in his seminal 1955 essay, “The Role of Government in Education.”

Friedman argued that giving parents the freedom to choose their children’s schools would lead to better educational outcomes. By introducing competition into the education system, schools would be incentivized to improve their quality to attract and retain students. This, he believed, would ultimately benefit all students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who are often trapped in underperforming schools. He believed it would also benefit teachers, taxpayers and society as a whole.

The mechanism to achieve Friedman’s educational philosophy was through a school voucher. Under a voucher system, parents would receive a sum equal to the amount the government spends per child in the public school system. They could then use this voucher to send their child to a school of their choice, whether it be public, private, or parochial, or in any other manner the market could devise.

Friedman’s idea was revolutionary at the time. It promised to break the monopoly of public schools and give parents the power to choose the best educational environment for their children. This competition, he argued, would drive schools to innovate and improve, benefiting students across the board.

A Brief History of School Choice

The concept of school choice isn’t new. It dates back to the 1800s, with Vermont and Maine as the pioneers. Vermont’s Town Tuitioning Program, established in 1869, allowed students in towns without public schools to attend public or private schools in other areas with state-provided tuition. Similarly, Maine’s Town Tuitioning Program, enacted in 1873, offered the same opportunities for its students.

However, it wasn’t until the late 20th century that the modern school choice movement gained significant momentum. In 1990, Wisconsin established the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the first modern school voucher system in the United States. This program aimed to provide low-income families with more educational options.

Milton and Rose Friedman further propelled the movement by founding EdChoice, formerly The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, in 1996. Their vision was clear: that every family – not just some families – should have the ability to choose a personalized education for their children.

As time passed and it became clear how hard it would be to enact Friedman’s vision, policymakers came up with new and creative ways to provide more educational options for families.

In 1997, Arizona created the Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship program, allowing individuals to receive tax credits for donations to funds for scholarships for children from low-income families. Also in 1997, Minnesota created the first refundable tax credit for parents to be reimbursed for educational expenses. In 2001, Florida innovated on Arizona’s program by creating the nation’s first tax-credit education savings account, which allowed scholarship recipients to use funds for items in addition to tuition.

In 2011, Arizona made history again by to creating the nation’s first education savings account called the Arizona Empowerment Accounts, revolutionizing the way families could choose personalized educations for their children. Also, in 2011, Indiana under Governor Mitch Daniels leadership enacted the nation’s largest and most comprehensive voucher program, finally bursting the logjam for statewide school voucher programs. And the progress has continued.

Educational Freedom Today

Today, over 1 million children now participate in private school choice programs across the United States.

This year, Wyoming joined the school choice map, while Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana created new ESA programs. Additionally, Missouri, Indiana, Utah, and Nebraska expanded their existing programs, increasing accessibility and flexibility for more families. Notably, the Alabama and Louisiana programs will eventually be available to all students, bringing the total number of states with universally eligible programs to 12.

With these advancements, over 22 million students—or 40% of students nationwide—are now eligible to participate in a private school choice program. Currently, if you exclude the individual tax credit and deduction programs, there are 75 programs across 33 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico changing lives. If you include them there are 83 programs.

Whether through education savings account programs, vouchers, tax-credit ESAs, or scholarships, these students are learning in more positive educational environments. Many families are now able, for the first time, to build a customized education that reflects their values and caters to their children’s unique talents and interests.

Consider families like the Ebbas, who are using New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program to provide a hybrid learning environment for their three children. Thanks to this program, the oldest Ebba children are preparing for future careers in medicine and the trades.

“With this new program called Educational Freedom Accounts, we were able to tremendously expand educational options for our children,” Megan Ebba said.

Or take the Burkehardts, who are utilizing Indiana’s special needs ESA program to support their children with dyslexia. Before accessing this program, the Burkehardts struggled to find appropriate resources within their local public school system.

Now, with specialized instruction tailored to their needs, their children are making significant progress and gaining confidence. “The impact on our family has been amazing,” said Corey Burkehardt. “This is focusing in on your child’s strengths. It’s individualized solely to them, and you get to pick and choose because you know your child best.”

Continuing Milton’s Legacy

As we celebrate this milestone and we set our sights on reaching 2 million children, Milton would argue that we’re just getting started and that we need to kick it up a notch.

“I think the headline is very simple: It’s progress but not fast or good enough,” said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of EdChoice. “Milton said that to me 1,000 times. He would say, ‘It’s good progress, but it’s not good enough. Not fast enough, not good enough. We need to go further, farther, faster in order to improve the quality of education and our society.”

“We have a society that can’t read, a society that doesn’t understand history, a society that can fall apart if it’s not capable of holding its citizenry together through democracy’s work. You have to be educated to be democratic. So, we need to improve the quality of education in order to improve our society”, added Enlow.

Milton stressed that the goal of school choice isn’t merely to provide taxpayer funds for private education but to “radically transform a system by introducing competition.”

To do that, we must allow the dynamism of the market to work, create new entrants to the market (such as the growing trend of microschools), make it easier for them to join, and reduce the regulatory burden. We need to try new things and innovate. Educational choice is not a fleeting trend but a foundational element of the future of education in America.

As we honor his legacy on his birthday, let us recommit to the principles of choice and competition that he championed, ensuring that every child has access to a quality education.

Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman! Your ideas continue to inspire and guide us towards a brighter future for education.