Dallas City Wire

In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Valeria Gurr, a Senior Fellow of the American Federation for Children, argued for the expansion of school choice as momentum is building for school choice legislation in several states.

So far this year, there have been 53 pieces of school choice legislation proposed in states such as Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Florida, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming. These include 36 bill proposals for education savings accounts, 13 proposals for tax credits, and four proposals for voucher programs.

“What is happening across our country is significant,” Valeria Gurr said in an op-ed for Fox News. “We are seeing true policy diffusion where many states are engaging in a friendly competition to be the best school choice provider, and finally offering families more educational opportunities and freedom to choose what's best for their children. In states that have passed school choice, education dollars are finally starting to follow the student, not the institution.”

In his State of the State address, Texas Governor Greg Abbott specifically called for legislation to make Education Savings Accounts to all Texas students, making “education freedom an emergency item.”

Gurr argues that school choice legislation, including passing ESAs, would help the education of students. Since the COVID pandemic, Texas students have shown declining math scores according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, although reading has remained consistent.

Education savings accounts are one of many alternatives parents in various states have to public schooling. ESAs allow parents to use financial assistance on any qualifying educational expense, not just private or charter schools. Other alternatives, such as private schooling, homeschooling and charter schools don’t allow the parents to receive the benefits and funds allocated to students for public education.