Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The Push for Private Options in Education Gains Momentum

More statehouses weigh measures allowing taxpayer funds to be used on alternative programs
A growing number of statehouses are considering measures that would allow school districts, parents and students increasingly to use taxpayer funds to explore alternatives to traditional state-backed public education.
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The flurry of new bills—which range from supporting private-school options to putting education dollars directly into parents’ hands—comes amid concerns of federal overreach in schools and a backlash against the widespread implementation of common education benchmarks and standardized testing.
It has also gained momentum from elections last November that increased state legislatures’ numbers of Republican lawmakers—traditionally backers of school choice.
A bill that passed in the Nevada Assembly Thursday proposes tax credits for businesses that support private-school scholarships. Meanwhile, a measure to establish so-called education savings accounts, which put state funds into special savings accounts for some parents to pay for certain services directly, on Thursday passed in both chambers in Mississippi. This latest form of flexibility has caught the eyes of legislators in many states since Arizona and Florida began programs in recent years.
So far this year, at least 34 states are considering proposals to create or amend programs that offer private education options, up from 29 last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The number of states considering education savings accounts has doubled to 16 since 2014.
“It is looking like this year could beat 2011 in the number of states that expand or adopt new educational choice programs,” said Jason Bedrick, who generally supports the changes as a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Some 13 states enacted legislation in 2011, seen as a watershed year for new schooling options.
Supporters of such measures say students benefit from a more competitive educational field that can cater better to their specific needs.
Critics worry the policies hamper progress in traditional schools, which can lose funding when students leave their classrooms, and point to uneven academic performances in alternative programs.
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