Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) offer parents a publicly funded, government-authorized savings account they can draw on for certain K-12 educational expenses. As these programs have expanded in recent years, they have become a flashpoint in education policy debates. For some, ESAs are an extension of existing private school choice programs'…

There is strong evidence that the fiscal position of states moving forward will require K-12 schooling to become less expensive. States are projected to see spikes in pension contributions for public sector workers and increased expenditures related to Medicaid expansion. While these bills are coming due, the country is also projected to change…

The assumption that rational choice dynamics will lead to diversity of school supply is at the heart of K-12 school choice arrangements. Yet as the field of school choice becomes more established, there will be the "inexorable push toward homogenization." If vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts become…

Many districts are expanding and diversifying the school options available to parents--a trend that shows no signs of reversing. While all public schools are required to test and publically report results, it remains nearly impossible for families and education and civic leaders to make school-to-school comparisons, especially across district-run…

To shed light on the actual impact of school choice on segregation, one has to understand the counter factual--the state of segregation under the current public education system. In the late 1960s and '70s, the trend in public school racial segregation followed the trend in neighborhood segregation. That is to say both improved as American…

The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program has the potential to be the largest school voucher program in the country. Though the authorizing legislation capped enrollment in the program at 7,500 for its first year (the 2011-12 school year), that cap was increased to 15,000 for this year, and will be removed for all subsequent years. With careful…

While school choice may be one of the most polarizing issues in education today, a new volume of research papers makes the case that innovations aimed at giving families more say in where their children go to school can be whatever their architects make of them. Programs such as magnet schools, charters, tuition tax credits, or open-enrollment…

This report focuses on the initial design, implementation and baseline results of the five-year Longitudinal Educational Growth Study (LEGS) of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) being conducted by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP). The LEGS will be the first evaluation of the participant effects of the MPCP using…