A Promising Report

The Wall Street Journal reports in their article, A School Choice Bonus that a recent study of tax-credit scholarship programs are saving taxpayers significant amounts of money:

“In most states, students receive scholarships worth less than what the government would spend if they attended public school. This is particularly true in liberal states like Rhode Island where per pupil spending averages roughly $15,000.

EdChoice found that the scholarship programs saved between $1.7 billion and $3.4 billion between 1998 and 2014 (depending on the estimated share of students who switch from public to private schools). That’s equivalent to $3,000 per scholarship student. Arizona’s scholarship for disabled students saved the most (about $8,540 per student) followed by Rhode Island’s program ($7,252), which is available to low- and middle-income families.

As the study notes, ‘savings do not automatically materialize as reductions’ in education spending, and ‘public schools usually end up with more resources per student because they typically don’t lose all funds previously spent on the students who leave.’ Thus, public school students may indirectly benefit.

Not that unions care. They oppose any help for private or charter schools because they can’t abide any alternative to their monopoly hold on taxpayers and children.”

Thus, the study adds one more significant piece of evidence debunking the idea that school choice is “welfare for the rich.” If the scholarship programs really were benefiting only children that never attended public schools, there would be no calculable savings as this study found.

The verdict is in: education choice is benefiting students across income and racial divides…all while saving taxpayer dollars. One more reason why we need more education choice now!