School choice is advancing in leaps and bounds, and politicians should take note. Legislators who insist on toeing the monopolist’s party line may not be in power for long.

As previously reported, 2023 has seen Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, and Florida establish universal school choice programs, giving all parents in those states control over the spending of their state’s education monies. Data shows there are now 12 states with education savings accounts (ESAs), 26 voucher programs in 15 states, and 25 tax-credit scholarship programs in 21 states. However, this momentum continues to grow.

On April 26, Indiana expanded its voucher program so nearly all students will be eligible. The state raised the income cap to 400 percent of the free- and reduced-price lunch income level, which is now about $220,000 for a family of four. The bill also removes other criteria for eligibility so that any family under the income limit can apply. Early estimates suggest only 3.5% of families with school-age children in Indiana would not be eligible for the program under the new income limit.

On May 25, Oklahoma enacted a universal choice law. Gov. Kevin Stitt stated, “School choice shouldn’t be just for the rich or those who can afford it. Now it’s available for every single family in the state of Oklahoma.” At least $5,000 will go to parents who want to send their child to a private school or home school.

On May 30, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed into law Nebraska’s first-ever school choice bill, a tax credit program. Students from lower-income families, students with special needs, students who experience bullying, students from military families, students in foster care, and students who are denied option enrollment into a non-zone public school are eligible for scholarships.

Additionally, Texas, Ohio, and several other states are in the process of establishing new private choice programs for parents.

The education monopolists are furious over the choice wave and are not going quietly into the night. In Nebraska, a ballot referendum repealing the tax credit law was filed with the state secretary. The effort, led by a group called “Support Our Schools,” seeks to place the issue before voters in 2024.

One of the establishmentarians’ ongoing arguments about tax credits programs is that they are nothing more than a tax break for the wealthy. This is a lie. The way it works is that taxpayers get a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations (SGO). So, where tax credits are in play, if a taxpayer owes $10,000 in taxes, they can divert half of it to an SGO, the other half going to the government. The taxpayer is still out $10,000 either way, so there is no tax break.

In Arizona, Democrats, including the governor and their teacher union allies, are demanding a rollback in the state’s budget. “We won’t accept any budget that doesn’t include a significant cap or rollback of ESA vouchers which are bankrupting our schools & our state,” a group tweeted. Gov. Katie Hobbs claims ESAs will cost Arizona at least $1.5 billion over the next decade, but critics argue this pales in comparison to the $150 billion projected cost of public schools over the same period.

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper declared a “state of emergency in education” after the Republican-controlled legislature voted to make it easier for families to obtain school vouchers. The Democrat accused Republicans of trying to “starve public education” and of dropping “an atomic bomb on public education.”

On the charter school front, the country’s first religious charter school was approved in Oklahoma in early June. The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board cleared the way for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to open in the fall of 2024, with plans to weave religious curriculum into online classes offered from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond claims it is unconstitutional. “The approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers,” he stated. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten weighed in, arguing the decision threatens to siphon millions of dollars in public money into private hands and undermines the separation of church and state.

However, critics point out that public schools in the United States have historically been religious, with Protestant values dominating until recent decades. The Supreme Court’s Carson v. Makin decision in 2022 ruled that states cannot exclude religious schools from voucher programs if they allow other private options.

The Oklahoma charter school program will most likely wind up in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, where its fate will be decided.

School choice is advancing in leaps and bounds, and politicians should take note. Legislators who insist on toeing the monopolist’s party line may not be in power for long.