Which States Have Private School Choice?

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Programs that direct public money toward private schools of a family’s choosing or family accounts that can cover any education expenses outside the public school system are proliferating.

Parents say they have sought out these programs as a way to deliver an education customized to their children’s unique needs. Politicians championing them say they represent a lifeline for students trapped in underperforming schools. Critics argue the programs deprive public schools of much-needed resources and point out that many children now benefiting from private school choice funds were already attending private schools beforehand. Several private school choice programs are facing lawsuits alleging that they violate state constitutions.

Students taking advantage of private school choice represent a small fraction of the nation’s total K-12 population, but the numbers signing up for new state programs have sometimes exceeded projections.

This tracker provides a concise yet comprehensive snapshot of the private school choice landscape on a rolling basis. In our States to Watch section, we highlight states where new private school choice programs or other notable private school choice policy changes are under consideration. Our glossary defines common terms in discussions about school choice.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school choice program, according to an Education Week analysis. Of those, 12 states have at least one private school choice program that's universally accessible to K-12 students in the state.

21 States have tax-credit scholarships

16 States have education savings accounts

10 States and the District of Columbia have vouchers

2 States have tax-credit education savings accounts

States with at least one universal private school choice program

States with one or more private school choice program

Education Savings Account (ESA)

Education savings accounts provide public per-pupil funds—often a percentage of per-student state funding—to families with children who don’t attend public schools that they can use to pay for private school tuition or other education expenses, such as tutoring and homeschooling supplies. Some states restrict ESAs or specific ESA programs within the state to students with disabilities, students attending schools with poor performance, and/or students from low-income families. Recently, more states have begun adopting universal ESAs, which all families can access regardless of income, disability status, or any other qualifying factor. ESA funds are generally given directly to families, often in the form of debit cards with restrictions on how the money can be spent. While ESAs and vouchers are often used interchangeably, what sets ESAs apart from vouchers are that they can be used for a wide array of education expenses, not just private school tuition. (See EdWeek's 2023 explainer on ESAs.)

Voucher

School vouchers describe public funds that families can use at private schools of their choice, including those that are religious, to subsidize the cost of student tuition. Many vouchers are restricted to students with disabilities, students attending poor-performing schools, and students from low-income families, but some states have vouchers that are available to any student. (See EdWeek's 2017 explainer on vouchers.)

Tax-Credit Scholarship

Tax-credit scholarship programs provide scholarships to families that they can use at private schools of their choice, including those that are religious. The scholarships most commonly come from state-authorized nonprofit organizations, which issue the scholarships out of donations that they receive from businesses or individual taxpayers who receive tax credits for those donations. Eligibility can be limited based on family income, disability status, or other factors, or it can be universal.

Tax-Credit Education Savings Account

Tax-Credit ESAs are a less common form of ESA through which families receive a designated, per-pupil amount from a state-authorized nonprofit organization that administers the account. Families can use the funds to cover any educational expense, including private school tuition, tutoring, or homeschooling costs. Businesses and individual taxpayers receive tax credits for donations to those nonprofit organizations.

Universal school choice

Private school choice programs that are open to all families regardless of disability status, income, location, or public school performance. Universal policies have become more popular in recent years.

School choice

State and, to a lesser extent, federal policies and programs that allow families to send students to schools that they wouldn’t be assigned to attend in the traditional public school system. This can include charter schools; magnet schools; traditional public schools outside of a family’s assigned school zone, district, or town; homeschooling; and private schools, including those that are religiously affiliated.

Private school choice

Policies and programs that direct state and other public funds to private schools, including religious options, where families can choose to enroll their children.

Public school choice

Policies and programs that allow families to attend public schools other than the school to which a child would normally be assigned. These schools include charter schools, magnet schools, as well as traditional public schools where families proactively decide to enroll their children. This EdWeek tracker is focused on private school choice and does not include data on public school choice programs.

Magnet schools

Public schools with a specific focus, such as STEM, performing arts, or career and technical education, that are free to attend and open to all students in a district. Some magnet schools are also open to students outside of a designated district or state and require students to apply to attend.

Charter schools

Schools that receive public funding but typically operate independently of local school districts, with private nonprofits most commonly running them and less often for-profit entities. Districts or state authorizing bodies create contracts, or “charters,” with organizations that want to open charter schools, often for a designated period of time. Charters are tuition-free and are often open to all students in a district or an even broader metro area. However, they tend to have caps on enrollment and decide enrollment based on a lottery system. Because charter schools are a form of public school choice, they are not included in EdWeek’s private school choice tracker. (See EdWeek’s 2018 explainer on charter schools.)

Inter- and intra-district choice

Policies and programs that allow students to attend public schools other than those to which they would normally be assigned. Those schools can be located in the student’s home district but outside of their traditional school zone (intra-district choice) or outside of their home district (inter-district choice). These policies are sometimes referred to as open enrollment.

States to watch

An ongoing look at significant private school choice policy development:

Colorado

Voters will weigh in this November on whether to enshrine in the state constitution “the right to school choice,” including traditional and charter public schools, private schools, and home school.

A lawyer for Advance Colorado, the conservative group behind the ballot measure, submitted several text options for consideration, including one that included “the right to direct per-pupil funding for their child to the schooling of their choice,” the Colorado Sun reported. That language did not make it to the finalized version, and the ballot measure does not include any references to private school choice programs that provide parents with state funds to spend on private educational options.

Still, some critics of private school choice believe the decision to push the ballot measure could presage a bigger debate over private school choice in the state.

Idaho

Debbie Critchfield, the state superintendent of education, said on July 30 that she and Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, are working on a new school choice bill, Idaho Education News reported. Both have previously said they don’t support diverting funds from public schools for private school choice. Earlier this year, a committee in the state House of Representatives narrowly voted down a proposed $50 million tax credit and grant program for private school choice.

Kentucky

Lawmakers in both houses in mid-March approved adding to the 2024 ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that would pave the way for private school choice. Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, is campaigning against approval of the measure if it ends up on the ballot. A 2022 effort to create private school choice programs in the state was struck down by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Nebraska

A coalition of public school advocacy groups successfully petitioned to secure a spot on the November 2024 ballot for a referendum asking voters whether to repeal or maintain the state’s tax credit scholarship program, signed into law in 2023.

In response, lawmakers approved and the governor signed a bill that essentially negates the ballot measure by eliminating the 2023 program and replacing it with a new one that sends $10 million in state funds directly to scholarship-granting organizations to cover private school tuition.

Advocates who secured the referendum’s position on the ballot earlier this year subsequently secured space on the ballot for another measure that asks voters whether or not to repeal the new private school choice program.

On Sept. 13, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected a bid from proponents of private school choice to nix the ballot measure. Voters will weigh in this November.

Republican lawmakers in February also introduced a proposal for an education savings account worth $1,500. If passed, the program would be open to all private school students who submit an application, and it would launch in the 2025-26 school year. The bill has not advanced.

South Carolina

On Sept. 11, the state supreme court ruled that the state’s education savings account program, through which the state began disbursing funds to roughly 2,900 families earlier this year, is unconstitutional and must be halted immediately.

The state’s elected superintendent of education is weighing whether to appeal the decision, which could ultimately land before the U.S. Supreme Court. Proponents of the program could also push for a constitutional amendment to pave the way for spending public dollars on private education. The amendment would require voter approval.

The House of Representatives approved legislation on March 20 that would have put the state’s education savings account program on track for universal eligibility starting with the 2026-27 school year. But the Senate paused on passing a comparable bill to wait for the supreme court’s ruling.