The reality of school choice is that students continue to accelerate, a new report finds.
If you listen to the teachers unions and Big Education loyalists, you’d think the sky is falling nationwide, with claim after claim that school choice programs, including vouchers, will hurt students, take away from public schools, discriminate, and so on, and so on.
But here’s a reality check for Chicken Little: The sky is not falling. A new report proves it yet again, and the timing could not be more important.
A trio of well-known education researchers, Matthew Chingos, David Figlio, and Krzysztof Karbownik, conducted a large-scale analysis examining how Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program affected college enrollment and graduation for students who received school choice scholarships.
The findings may be stunning to some, but for parents and families across America, they reaffirm what they’ve long known: School choice is a powerful equalizer that helps children access the schools best suited to their needs.
With members of Congress having a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance school choice across the country, these results underscore why they must act.
What the authors found should serve as both a reassurance for school choice-supporting policymakers and a rallying cry for bold action across the country. The data provide compelling evidence that school choice programs can, and do, improve long-term educational attainment.
Here are the key takeaways worth shouting from the rooftops:
- EdChoice students were 32% more likely to enroll in college than their public school peers (64% vs. 48%)
- They outpaced public school students in four-year college enrollment at 45% vs. 30%
- Duration matters: Students who remained in a private school with an EdChoice scholarship for at least four years were 44% more likely to enroll in college
- The program also increased the likelihood of earning a bachelor’s degree, offering tangible proof that its impact shouldn’t be overlooked
Perhaps the teachers unions will rally their paid spokespeople and talking head allies to cast doubt on this report and on school choice in general, fixating on point-in-time challenges to hide the fact that school choice changes lives. But it’s hard to argue with the data. And here are three more points that will make our critics uncomfortable, because they know they’re true, even if they won’t admit it:
- Male students who used the voucher were 86% more likely to graduate from college than their male public school counterparts (22.5% vs. 12.1%)
- Students from the lowest-income families were 175% more likely to graduate if they used the voucher (16.2% vs. 5.9%)
- Black students using the voucher were 138% more likely to graduate compared to their public school peers (16.9% vs. 7.1%)
And it’s not just the students in this program who benefited. The data show that competition from school choice programs drives improvement in traditional public schools as well. Public school students facing greater competition saw meaningful gains in college enrollment and graduation rates, with some evidence that they even attended more selective institutions.
So, what now?
For starters, let’s keep the pressure on. States across the country must continue expanding access to school choice programs, such as the historic $1 billion ESA program that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) will soon sign into law. While dozens of states have already passed school choice programs, there’s still much work to do, especially in states where legislatures lack the intestinal fortitude to pass even the most modest reforms.
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A bill in Congress, the Educational Choice for Children Act, could change that, and it has its best shot yet at becoming reality through this year’s reconciliation process.
Finally, to those committed defenders of the education status quo, it’s time to go outside, take a deep breath, and look up. Despite the cries from the teachers unions and Big Education loyalists that “the voucher sky is falling,” we know the truth: Students in Ohio, and far beyond the borders of the Buckeye State, are thriving because of school choice.
Brian Jodice is the national press secretary for the American Federation for Children and has advocated and communicated about school choice programs across the nation for over a decade.