What Is School Choice?

School choice empowers parents to choose the best school for their children - whether it’s public, private, parochial, or home-schooling. Parents understand their children’s needs best and should be given the chance to choose the right school for them. When parents have the power to choose, schools compete and improve to meet their needs.

Why Do We Need School Choice?

As a society, we owe every child a chance at a first-class education. But today, despite ever-rising spending and taxes, our education system is both unequal and underperforming. South Carolina has increased education expenditures more than any other state over the past 40 years and currently spends almost $10,000 per child on K-12 education. Sadly, we are last in graduation rates, last in SAT scores, and 49^th in ACT scores. According to our state’s PACT scores, three out of four 8^th graders in public school cannot read and write proficiently. The National Assessment of Educational Progress says that we are below average in Reading, Writing, and Science. Unfortunately, these statistics are even worse for low-income and minority students.

We know that competitive systems work better than monopolies. And we know that when parents have options, they can attain a better education for their children - which pressures all schools to improve.

Is School Choice Elitist Or Anti-Public Education?

School choice is a pro-education policy that will help public schools by increasing per pupil expenditures. It does not favor one type of school over any other. Instead, it values all schools – public, private, religious and home schools – as equally important contributors to a vibrant, healthy, and effective education system.

School choice seeks to grant society’s powerless a privilege currently enjoyed by relatively few - the privilege of choosing among the full array of public and private schools. Done correctly, it ensures that low- and middle-income families are not denied an equal opportunity to make independent, quality schooling choices for their sons and daughters.

Is School Choice Constitutional?

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school choice is constitutionally permissible when it is a program

Of “true private choice”
Enacted for a secular purpose
Offers only indirect aid to religious schools and is not set up in a way that favors religious options over secular options
Affords parents adequate nonreligious educational options
Made available to a broad class of beneficiaries

Numerous other court rulings support a variety of choice programs that have been implemented across the United States.

Who Does School Choice Benefit And How?

Children: Today, many children are trapped in failing schools. Studies show that students who fall behind often never catch up. School choice helps all students by encouraging schools to compete, innovate, and improve to teach children better.

Parents: Parents are empowered by school choice. They can search for the best school for their children among all options. Whether they choose a public or private school, their voices will be listened to and respected since they have the option to switch.

Public Schools: Per pupil expenditures increase under school choice since there is more money going towards fewer students. Increased competition will force the education bureaucracy to be efficient, which will help public schools.

Teachers: Today, teachers are the victims of bureaucratic mandates and micromanagement. Under a choice system, teachers will be liberated to do what’s right for a child’s learning and achieve parental satisfaction.

Principals: Principals are often handcuffed by bureaucracy and regulations. They’re not allowed to use their judgment to do what works. Under a choice system, principals will be given the power and authority needed to compete with other schools.

South Carolina : Due to its underperforming educational system, South Carolina has high rates of unemployment, violent crime and incarceration, and low levels of economic growth and public health. A better education for our children will improve our state’s quality of life.

Where has School Choice Been Implemented?

Today, approximately 650,000 children in eleven states and the District of Columbia are benefitting from some form of school choice. Some programs target low-income families while others provide educational options to a broader range of students and parents. Tools used to achieve school choice include tax credits, vouchers, scholarships and grants. Whatever the mechanism, each program empowers parents with the ability and freedom to choose a better education for their child.

The United States is one of only six industrialized nations that continue to rely on a system of state-run schools only. Countries that have school choice programs include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.