WSJ: School Choice Generates Significant Savings

​In a recent piece from the Wall Street Journal, EdChoice’s Martin Lueken takes on assertions from some critics of school choice that such programs “will destroy public school funding and worsen educational outcomes.” As Lueken lays out, the data simply don’t support those claims.
 
According to a new study authored by Lueken, who is EdChoice’s director of fiscal research, an analysis of 48 school choice programs across 26 states showed that they “generated cumulative net fiscal benefits for taxpayers worth between $19.4 billion and $45.6 billion.” That’s up to $7,800 per student or between $1.70 and $2.64 in taxpayer savings for every dollar invested – a good ROI by any metric.
 
Moreover, as Lueken notes, the total cost of school choice programs constitutes only 0.3% of state budgets – hardly an exorbitant figure, particularly given the net savings they generate.
 
To the extent such programs lure parents and children away from public schools, Lueken writes, those schools should benefit in the short term by allowing teachers to turn their focus more to the needs of individual students. Budget cuts, meanwhile, are unlikely to present an immediate issue because “[s]tates often have protections that shield districts from immediate financial losses due to declining enrollment.”
 
As Protect the 1st has written extensively, how you educate your children is one of the fundamental expressions of parental responsibility. As such, parents should be able to freely choose a school that fits their child’s needs and select an education that reflects their values. Arguments to the contrary ignore not only the efficacy and economy of choice programs, but also neglect the First Amendment rights of parents.