National School Choice Week begins on Sunday, and this year, there’s much to celebrate. In 2023, the school choice movement made more progress expanding education options than ever before.
The Year of Education Freedom saw seven states pass new education choice policies and nine states expand existing choice policies. There are now nine states with universal education choice policies that offer education savings accounts or ESA-style options to every K-12 student in the state.
In 2024, that momentum is likely to continue as several states gear up to pass new or expanded education choice policies.
The Yellowhammer State has lagged relative to its neighbors in offering education choice. That could change this year as Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has set an ambitious goal for the 2024 legislative session.
“My goal is for Alabama to be the most school choice-friendly state in the nation,” Ivey said on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” in July. “I want us to have lots of school choices for our parents to choose from. We are working now, already, now, on a bill, an ESA bill, an education savings account bill, to present to the legislature in the next session, and I’m very optimistic that will pass.”
In 2023, for the second year in a row, Florida ranked first in the nation on The Heritage Foundation’s Education Freedom Report Card, and ranked second only to Arizona for education choice. Can Florida take the top spot for education choice in 2024?
Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1, which expanded eligibility for the state’s Family Empowerment Scholarship to all K — 12 students. However, as I explained last year, there were some drafting errors that prevented ESA students from being able to choose religiously affiliated providers of virtual learning, and defined “eligible private school” in a way that limited the ability of parents to choose “blended learning” programs that combine or alternate between in-person and virtual instruction, as well as “hybrid homeschooling” that alternates between in-person........