The School Choice Programs Democrats Hate Have Saved Taxpayers Up To $45 Billion; School Choice Saves Taxpayer Dollars

The School Choice Programs Democrats Hate Have Saved Taxpayers Up To $45 Billion:

When families receive an ESA, which is typically around half of what the state spends per public education student, the state saves money.

Democrat lawmakers employ fear tactics claiming school choice will bankrupt their states. It’s a massive lie, and they know it. As a recent Wall Street Journal report notes, school choice programs provide enormous savings for a state’s budget — savings to the tune of millions of dollars each year.

Martin F. Lueken reports in the Journal that “a recent EdChoice analysis of 48 school-choice programs across 26 states through 2022 estimates that school-choice programs generated cumulative net fiscal benefits for taxpayers worth between $19.4 billion and $45.6 billion.”

Lueken continues, “Put another way, for every dollar spent on these programs, taxpayers have saved between $1.70 and $2.64 — a significant return on investment.” Indeed, school choice programs generate tremendous savings.

Public education spending has skyrocketed with no improvement in student learning. On average, across the nation, $17,280 is spent per year on each of the approximately 50 million K-12 public education students. The spending jumped from roughly $11,066 per student just 10 years ago — an astonishing 56 percent increase. New York state spending is a staggering $33,440 for each K-12 student, yet only 45 percent of third-grade students are proficient in reading. Regarding math achievement, only 42 percent of the state’s eighth-grade students scored proficient.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress exam administered to fourth-, eighth-, and 12th-grade students reveals that reading scores have declined for each tested grade level over the last 10 years.

More money spent on public education has proven not to increase student learning, yet public schools continually claim they are underfunded. However, on average, private schools spend more than $4,000 less per student and achieve better results.

Private schools must prove to student families the return on their financial investment of paid tuition by providing high-quality learning. If not, families may exit the school. However, in the absence of school choice programs, for the vast majority of families unable to afford private school tuition or homeschool, public education can hold children hostage in schools failing to provide quality academic learning or keep them safe.

The teachers unions leverage their political power with Democrat lawmakers to continue to increase public education funding void of academic accountability while also working relentlessly to maintain the public education near-monopoly. —>READ MORE HERE

School Choice Saves Taxpayer Dollars:

School choice has emerged as a defining political issue this year. In states such as Texas and Tennessee, opponents argue that such programs will destroy public-school funding and worsen educational outcomes. These claims don’t hold up.

Decades of data show that these programs generate substantial fiscal benefits for taxpayers. A recent EdChoice analysis of 48 school-choice programs across 26 states through 2022 estimates that school-choice programs generated cumulative net fiscal benefits for taxpayers worth between $19.4 billion and $45.6 billion. This translates to up to $7,800 a student. Put another way, for every dollar spent on these programs, taxpayers have saved between $1.70 and $2.64—a significant return on investment.

Opponents claim that school-choice programs cause budget meltdowns. But these programs represent only a fraction of overall state spending. Across all states with choice programs, total state spending on all public services exceeds $1.2 trillion. The cost for choice programs represents only 0.3% of state budgets. These programs aren’t large enough to upend budgets—and they’re flexible. They typically start small and grow slowly over time, allowing states and districts to adjust their budgets and operations.

Some activists often mischaracterize Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program in particular. They neglect that the program represents a small slice of the state pie—$730 million, or 0.9%, of the $80.5 billion in state spending on public services. In the long run, the current cohort of students in Arizona’s program will generate taxpayers $244 million in annual savings. —>READ MORE HERE (or HERE)

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