1. School Choice: Private Choices in Public Education
9:45 – 11 a.m.
Room: Roosevelt 3

2. Spectrum of School Choice
Privately Funded Education Options
Private schools
Private online schools
Home education
Private scholarship programs
Publicly Funded Education Options
Neighborhood schools
Magnet schools
Online schools
Open enrollment
Charter schools
Hybrid Education Options: Public and Private Funding
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Scholarship tax credit programs
Voucher programs
Course access programs
School choice can start to include MANY different types of programs.

4. Vouchers
What are they? 30
seconds

5. Vouchers
What are they?
State-funded scholarships that allow students to attend a private school rather than a public school.
All have at least one eligibility requirement:
Students with a disability
Assigned to a low-performing school or district
Income-eligible household
Geography

6. Vouchers
State
Parent
Private School

7. Vouchers
What are they?
Many states require participating students to take an assessment.
Participating schools must meet minimum standards established in policy.
Assessments: Either a state assessment or a nationally-recognized assessment. States that don’t require an assessment still may require schools to provide an academic progress report of some kind to parents each year.
Private school standards: may include teacher certifications, particularly programs for students with an IEP.
TT: Maine and Vermont have programs specific to school districts that do not operate a public school or offer certain grades. Students may attend a private school, sometimes in another state or country.

8. Vouchers
Who pays?
State provides a set amount of money, typically based on the per-pupil amount.
Funds usually sent directly to the school.
Some states prohibit schools from charging tuition or fees beyond the voucher amount for certain students.
Sometimes states provide a voucher amount less than the state’s per-pupil amount. Some argue these programs save taxpayers money, as the state spends less to educate the child. However, some take issue with this claim.
There is some evidence that there is a financial impact on public schools when students leave for any reason, including to attend a private school through a voucher program (fixed costs).
Some evidence from Milwaukee’s program that even if the program saves money, the tax benefits and burdens are not distributed equally across groups of taxpayers.
Is it really a “win” and a good argument to claim we are spending less money to educate some of our most vulnerable children?
A few states specify that participating private schools may not charge tuition or fees beyond the voucher amount to participating students. However, most states are silent on this issue, suggesting that they may charge additional tuition and fees to participating students. This may prevent most of the poorest families from participating.

9. Vouchers
Which states have them?
25 programs in 14 states + D.C.

10. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
What are they? 30
seconds

11. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
What are they?
Private accounts funded by the state government, managed by a parent.
Reimbursement or bank account.
Use funds to purchase education services.
Example: private school tuition, online course fees, tutoring services.
ESAs: Essentially a voucher program, but structured a little differently. Parents may use funds to purchase a variety of education services for a state-approved “menu” of services. Evidence from Arizona shows most parents still send their children to private school through an ESA program, but not all.

12. Vouchers
State
Parent
Private School

13. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Private school
Private tutoring
State
Parent
Online course fees
Special education services
Curricular materials

14. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Nevada: Education Savings Account Program
Source:
Example of approved services from Nevada’s non-functioning program.

15. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Who pays?
Publicly funded, typically based on the state’s per-pupil amount.
Oversight:
Account audits
Student testing requirements
Accountability is tricky with ESAs.
Example, Arizona’s audit. Found that mostly there were good controls, but also found some pretty blatant violations (parents purchasing things with account funds that were clearly not approved services). In short, it is a lot of time and work to provide adequate oversight.

16. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Which states have them?
Six states
Nevada: program unfunded.
Arizona: following a legal challenge, the legislature’s 2017 expansion to universal eligibility will go before voters in 2018 as a ballot measure.
5 states, Nevada’s program is “on the books,” but not funded.

17. Scholarship Tax Credits
What are they? 30
seconds
Eligibility requirements:
Assigned to a low-performing school.
Children of active-duty military.
IEP with household income limitations.

18. Scholarship Tax Credits
What are they?
Provide tax credits to businesses or individuals for donating to the program.
Scholarship granting organizations are nonprofits that manage and distribute funds.
Typically restricted to income-eligible students.
Eligibility requirements:
Assigned to a low-performing school.
Children of active-duty military.
IEP with household income limitations.

19. Scholarship Tax Credits
Private Schools
Eligible students attend
Must comply with various state provisions
Scholarship Granting Organizations
Nonprofit organizations
Take applications from eligible students
Distribute scholarship money to schools
Taxpayers
Make contributions to SGOs
Tax credit from state
Businesses, individuals, both

20. Scholarship Tax Credits
Who pays?
Funded through donations.
Some states have a limit on donations or tax credits that the state may award.
Some states stipulate how much of the contribution is eligible for a tax credit.
Scholarship granting organizations maintain a percentage for administrative fees.

21. Scholarship Tax Credits
Which states have them?
23 programs,
18 states

22. School Choice

23. Questions and Contact
Micah Ann Wixom

24. School Choice: Private Choices in Public Education
9:45 – 11 a.m.
Room: Roosevelt 3

25. Indiana Vouchers (2017-18) Grades 1-8: 90%: $4,818.10 50%: $2,862.02
Eligibility: Eight eligibility tracks. All include income eligibility requirements (150% or 200% of FRPL; one track is 127% of federal poverty guidelines).
Amount awarded: $153.9 million
Students: 35,458
Scholarship amount: School tuition and fees OR part of the state’s per pupil amount (90% or 50%, based on income guidelines), whichever is less.
Average scholarship amount:
Kindergarten:
90%: $4,661.58
50%: $2,824.19
Grades 1-8:
90%: $4,818.10
50%: $2,862.02
Grades 9-12:
90%: $5,629.16
50%: $3,017.13

26. Indiana Scholarship Tax Credits (2016-17)
Donors (individuals, corporations) may take up to 50% of their donation as a tax credit.
Scholarships granted: 9,349
Amount awarded: about $16.8 million
In addition to the state-funded voucher, additional special education funding is available in situations where a parent of a child with an IEP elects to have the eligible Choice school provide the special education services.

27. Florida Opportunity Scholarship (voucher) (2016-17)
Eligibility: Students attending low-performing schools
Students: 2,869
McKay Scholarship (voucher) ( )
Eligibility: Students with disabilities
Students: 31,499
Amount awarded: $220.2 million
Average scholarship amount, IEP: $8,021
Average scholarship amount, 504: $4,562

28. Florida Gardiner Scholarship (ESA) (2017-18)
Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program ( )
Amount awarded: $536 million
Students: 98,936
Schools: 1,733
Amount per student: $5,886
Donors: Specific corporate donors (insurance premium taxes, oil and gas production taxes, etc.)
Tax credits available, statewide: $698 million in FY.
Gardiner Scholarship (ESA) ( )
Eligibility: Students with disabilities
Students: 10,153
Amount awarded: $104.9 million
Average scholarship amount: $10,000

29. Ohio Voucher Programs Fiscal Year 2016 Cleveland Scholarship
Autism Scholarship
EdChoice Scholarship + Expansion
Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship
Fiscal Year 2016
$263+ million distributed across five vouchers programs.

30. Your Education Policy Team.

31. Download session resources: bit.ly/ecsnf18resources