Florida’s Jewish schools are experiencing extraordinary growth due in significant part to school choice scholarships, as highlighted by a new report from Teach Coalition and Step Up For Students, described in this Next Steps article. Over the past 15 years, student enrollment increased by 58% and the number of schools nearly doubled. During this time, the percentage of Jewish students using school choice scholarships increased from 10% to 60%. Read more here.
School Choice is Saving Arizona Taxpayers Money
Contrary to dire predictions by the critics, Arizona’s adoption of universal education savings accounts (ESAs) is proving to be a financial benefit, rather than burden, to the state’s budget. The Arizona superintendent of schools has released data showing that the state was $4.3 million under budget in education spending for the year. A blog post by the Cato Institute’s Colleen Hroncich also points out that an analysis by the nonpartisan Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee also found savings, “noting the higher-than-expected ESA enrollment was offset by an enrollment drop in district and charter schools.”
“Since charter schools receive more than $10,000 per student in state funding compared to around $7,500 received by ESA students, the shift from charters to ESAs represents a savings.”
“Having a surplus of more than $4 million is proof positive that the critics who have claimed the ESA program will bust not only the state’s education budget but the entire budget itself were always wrong. It was always a myth, and that myth is utterly demolished.”
– Tom Horne, State Superintendent, Arizona
Who Uses School Choice? It’s a Tough Question to Answer.
From EdChoice:
While publicly reported demographic data about school choice students are limited, we’ve assembled some of the information that is publicly available… One clear takeaway from this data is that choice students come from diverse backgrounds, and there is variation in the composition of program enrollments from state to state. A wide range of families are using these private school choice programs, likely in response to variety of situations. Choice students do not fit neatly into simplistic narratives.
Click here to see some of the rather interesting publicly reported demographic data about school choice gathered by our friends at EdChoice.
hips, as highlighted by a new report from Teach Coalition and Step Up For Students, described in this 
Contrary to dire predictions by the critics, Arizona’s adoption of universal education savings accounts (ESAs) is proving to be a financial benefit, rather than burden, to the state’s budget. The Arizona superintendent of schools has released data showing that the state was $4.3 million under budget in education spending for the year. A 
