The States Ranked by Spending on School Choice Programs, 2018 Edition

We’re back again in 2018, ranking the states’ aggregate spending on private educational choice programs as a percentage of their total K–12 spending.

For added context, see the national chart in this year’s edition of The ABCs of School Choice (also visible below), and for a refresher on how the calculations are made, see the inaugural spending share post from last year.

The main departure from last year’s calculations is using the state public expenditure data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Public Education Finances: 2015 report. Other than that, I’ve included the ranking from last year in parentheses to denote any year-over-year differences.

Only the top seven states in the list and Washington D.C., actually have ESA, voucher and/or tax-credit scholarship spending that is larger than 1 percent of combined program and public K–12 spending in that respective state (or district, in D.C.’s case). This just goes to show that private educational choice spending really is just a small drop in a large bucket, even at the state-level.

1. Florida (1)
ESA, Voucher, Tax-Credit Scholarship |3.73% of Florida’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $966.6 million

2. Vermont (2)
Voucher | 2.66% of Vermont’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $44.1 million

3. Wisconsin (3)
Vouchers (4) | 2.62% of Wisconsin’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $266.7 million

4. Arizona (5)
ESA, Tax-Credit Scholarships |2.53% of Arizona’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $186.9 million

5. Maine (4)
Voucher |2.19% of Maine’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $54.4 million

6. Indiana (6)
Voucher, Tax-Credit Scholarship |1.60% of Indiana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $159.0 million

7. Ohio (7)
Vouchers (5) | 1.48% of Ohio’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $299.2 million

8. District of Columbia (8)
Voucher |1.12% of D.C.’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $11.0 million

9. Louisiana (9)
Vouchers (2), Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.62% of Louisiana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures |$45.7 million

10. Georgia (10)
Voucher, Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.45% of Georgia’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $74.9 million

11. Alabama (12)
Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.33% of Alabama’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $22.4 million

12. Pennsylvania (11)
Tax-Credit Scholarships (2) |0.32% of Pennsylvania’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $81.4 million

13. Iowa (13)
Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.31% of Iowa’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $17.0 million

14. North Carolina (14)
ESA (launching 2018–19), Vouchers (2) | 0.23% of North Carolina’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $29.2 million

15. Nevada (15)
ESA (not yet funded), Tax-Credit Scholarship | 0.20% of Nevada’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $7.7 million

16. Oklahoma (18)
Voucher, Tax-Credit Scholarship | 0.15% of Oklahoma’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $8.0 million

17. Utah (17)
Voucher |0.14% of Utah’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $5.2 million

18. South Carolina (16)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 0.13% of South Carolina’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $9.7 million

19. Virginia (20)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 0.07% of Virginia’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $10.8 million

20. Rhode Island (19)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | 0.07% of Rhode Island’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $1.6 million

21. Mississippi (21)
ESA, Vouchers (2) |0.06% of Mississippi’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $2.7 million

22. Maryland (22)
Voucher | 0.05% of Maryland’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $6.1 million

23. Arkansas (26)
Voucher | 0.04% of Arkansas’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $1.0 million

24. New Hampshire (24)
Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.03% of New Hampshire’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $0.7 million

25. South Dakota (23)
Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.02% of South Dakota’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $0.2 million

26. Kansas (25)
Tax-Credit Scholarship |0.01% of Kansas’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $0.7 million

27. Tennessee (28)
ESA |Less than 0.01% of Tennessee’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | $0.6 million

28. Montana (27)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | Less than 0.01% of Montana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures | Less than $0.1 million

29. Illinois (NEW)
Tax-Credit Scholarship | Data not yet available | N.A.