If school choice opponents had any hope of ever returning to the pre-COVID days of one-size-fits-all public schooling, three recent events have surely disabused them of the idea.
First, Texas passed universal school choice, becoming the largest state to offer K-12 scholarships to families interested in private education options.
Second, purple-state New Hampshire just joined the growing list of (mostly red) states that have embraced universal K-12 scholarships. In the Granite State, these flexible scholarships are aptly called “Education Freedom Accounts” and go to all students for all options.
Third, a new report from Florida revealed that — for the first time in history — a majority of Sunshine State students are now enrolled in something other than their neighborhood public school. The report, “Changing Landscapes,” shows that 51 percent of Florida’s 3.5 million K-12 students now attend a charter, magnet, private, home-based, or hybrid school alternative.
Taken together, these three developments signal universal education choice is here to stay. Not only is it spreading to big states like Texas and purple states like New Hampshire, but it has quietly become the “new normal” in the Sunshine State of Florida.
In fact, education freedom has become so entrenched in Florida’s culture (since then-Gov. Jeb Bush first championed the idea) that a growing number of Florida public school districts — including Miami-Dade — have begun offering fee-for-course options to scholarship students.
To their credit, these public school leaders have decided, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” So they are now wisely vying for scholarship students (including many longtime homeschoolers) who are looking to take one or more “a la carte” courses.
Offering “a la carte” courses not only improves public schools’ bottom line, but it also helps district officials move beyond seeing some families as “friends” and others as “foes.” As Laurie Cox, the chair of the Leon County School Board, told me, “I want to help every Leon County child succeed, whether or not they attend our public schools full-time.”
Lest there be any doubt, Florida students are clearly reaping the benefits of the “cooperative competition” Cox describes. Indeed, Florida public school outcomes have shown steady improvement over the last two decades, thanks in large part to the increased competition that comes from alternative learning options.
To be sure, there’s more work to be done. In fact, a recent James Madison Institute poll suggests some Florida families still regard their current schooling arrangement as “sub-optimal” — which is to say, for example, they attend a charter school when they’d prefer to attend a private school.
Parental unhappiness with schooling arrangements is considerably higher in other states. But recent developments in Texas, New Hampshire, and Florida give parents throughout our country reason to hope for their children’s future. Education freedom is on the march. School choice is coming soon to a neighborhood near you. And millions of American schoolchildren will be reaping the benefits.
William Mattox is the senior director of the Marshall Center for Education Freedom at The James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, Fla.