Friday, February 19, 2016

A vote for ESAs is a vote for public education

Education Savings Account legislation cleared its first hurdle this week thanks to the committee votes of Speaker Jeff Hickman, Speaker Pro Tempore Lee Denney, Rep. Chad Caldwell, Rep. Dan Fisher, Rep. John Paul Jordan, Rep. Sally Kern, Rep. Jason Nelson, Rep. Michael Rogers, and Rep. Chuck Strohm.

A vote for ESAs is a vote for public education. After all, as education researcher Greg Forster noted in his 2013 meta-analysis of the school choice literature, "twenty-three empirical studies (including all methods) have examined school choice’s impact on academic outcomes in public schools. Of these, 22 find that choice improves public schools and one finds no visible impact. No empirical study has found that choice harms public schools." Dr. Forster told me this week that the tally is now up to 27-1.

School choice harms public schools? It's quite the talking point, but the empirical evidence says otherwise.

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