THIS IS A GOOD FIRST STEP ON THE ROAD TO A COMPLETE SEPARATION OF SCHOOL AND STATE. “Arizona school-choice measures saved taxpayers as much as $27.7B over decade, study finds.”
Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program has saved taxpayers more than $1 billion and as much as $3.2 billion, according to a national study on school-choice programs.
EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for parental choice in where they send their kids to be students, estimated in its new study that educational choice programs have generated between $12.4 billion and $27.7 billion in taxpayer savings since 2011. That averages to $7,500 for each student who participated in such a program.
Arizona is a pioneer of school-choice programs. It is home to the nation’s first educational savings account, a program allowing parents to redirect a portion of funding meant for a public school district and use it to send their child to a school of their preference. Originally passed in 2011, Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account initially was directed toward students with special needs but was expanded to make nearly a quarter of the state’s K-12 students eligible.