We at the Independent Women’s Education Freedom Center (EFC) celebrate National School Choice Week because we believe in empowering parents by expanding educational opportunities for children across the country.
Why School Choice?
By funding students over systems, school choice measures allow parents to seek out the best opportunities for their children and to vote with their feet if and when public schools are failing students. They also help the education system by making it more competitive—when school choice is in place, the monopolies presently held in far too many public school districts by teachers unions, bad ideology, and bad pedagogy are significantly weakened.
Independent Women’s Work: Recent Policy Analysis
Recently, Independent Women Senior Fellow Dr. Keri D. Ingraham wrote a Policy Focus on School Choice in the States, highlighting the legislative victories for school choice that have taken place over the past four years across various states.
Some takeaways:
- 12 states enacted universal or near-universal school choice programs between 2021 and now.
- Contrary to what is often claimed by anti-school choice voices, school choice programs have resulted in massive savings for states like Arizona that have implemented it.
- Fewer than 500,000 public education students had access to school choice as of 2020. Now, roughly 18.9 million students—or almost forty times as many students—have such access.
Independent Women’s Work: Recent Op-Eds
2025 Is The Year For GOP-Led States To Act On School Choice
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham | RealClearEducation
A variety of school choice programs — private school scholarships, tax-credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and public school open enrollment — with different eligibility criteria have been signed into law over the past four years by historic measure.
Why Linda McMahon Will Excel As Secretary Of Education
Angela Morabito | The Washington Reporter
[McMahon] has spent the past four years helping lead the charge for universal school choice, which is supported by 71 percent of Americans and which is now a reality in twelve states. McMahon has been a key part of this effort in her work at America First Policy Institute; her new job will give her the chance to expand on that success to the federal level.
Abbott Set To Deliver On Texas School Choice In 2025
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham | The Daily Wire
The benefits of education freedom are significant for each individual child, their family, and community. Additionally, widespread school choice programs save a state enormous sums of money because the funding provided to the family to take to an alternative education option is generally only one-third to half the amount public education spends per student.
Why Trump Was The Candidate For ‘Educational Freedom’
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham | The New York Post
Parents by the masses began to recognize that there was a better way than having their children trapped in a closed school or a school failing to provide effective academic learning, and they wanted options. Conservative legislators — free from political ties with the teachers unions — took notice of their constituents, and in turn, many acted, working to advance school choice legislation.
The School Choice Programs Democrats Hate Have Saved Taxpayers Up To $45 Billion
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham | The Federalist
Universal school choice benefits parents, students, taxpayers, communities, employers of the future workforce, the state’s economy, and even students who remain in the public school — because when school choice is present in a community the learning of all students improves, even students who remain in their traditional public school due to the free-market principle of competition.
Democrat Platform Talks Big About Education Reform While Trapping Kids In Failing Schools
Neeraja Deshpande | The Federalist
In theory, the Democrat platform supports students getting a solid education independent of their ZIP code and for low-income students receiving equal treatment. But in practice, by opposing school choice and promoting mindless, unaccountable funding to already failing school systems, the platform values systems over students and kills educational freedom.
Parents Reward School Choice Candidates At Ballot Boxes Across The Country
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham | The Federalist
…election results in a handful of states have made one thing clear — Republican elected officials who are anti-school choice are getting voted out of office while education-freedom champions are securing state house and senate seats.
Want to learn more about school choice in your state?
EdChoice has a state-by-state dashboard to help parents find out what school choice options they have for their children.