Voters have a history of rejecting private school choice measures at the ballot box. Recent voucher proposals garnered less than a third of the vote . But advocates in three states are hoping to break that trend on Election Day.
In Nebraska , voters will decide whether to preserve or overturn 2023 legislation that created a private school scholarship program. Initiatives in Kentucky and Colorado , if approved, could pave the way for lawmakers to create vouchers or education savings accounts in the future.
Despite past defeats, “school choice is continuing to gain support across the country with every demographic,” said Ben DeGrow, a senior policy director at ExcelinEd, which supports the expansion of private school choice. “We’re only likely to see more states add programs by the end of the decade.”
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Over the past two years, several GOP governors and lawmakers have been able to push through education savings accounts, which allow families to use state funds for private school tuition, homeschooling or a combination of programs. Nearly 600,000 students in eight states were enrolled in universal ESA programs in 2023-24, according to FutureEd , a think tank at Georgetown University. In 2022, only Arizona had a universal program that served about 60,000 students . But it’s unclear if that momentum will continue at the polls in the face of opponents who argue such programs hurt public schools.