ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ Explains: School Choice – ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ America's Education News Source Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 /wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-74_favicon-32x32.png ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ Explains: School Choice – ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ 32 32 WATCH: Understand What a Charter School Is (and What It Isn’t) in 100 Seconds or Less /article/watch-understand-what-a-charter-school-is-and-what-it-isnt-in-100-seconds-or-less/ /article/watch-understand-what-a-charter-school-is-and-what-it-isnt-in-100-seconds-or-less/#respond Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000
In our continuing series of explainer videos about school choice options for families (watch our debriefs of school vouchers, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and open enrollment systems), today we focus on charter schools, publicly funded but independently operated schools that are open to all children and tuition-free.
74 Explains Charter Schools:

Four key things to remember about charter schools:
  1. Charter schools are much more flexible than traditional public schools. They can have a longer school day and a longer school year. They can have much higher standards for behavior and academics. Charters must adhere to approved goals for student learning; if they do not meet those goals, the school can be shut down.
  2. Charter schools operate under a charter, or contract, with their state, school district, or authorizing agency. The charter governs how the school runs — its name, financing, curriculum, the grades it will teach, and how student success is measured.
  3. Many charter schools open in high-poverty areas, where the traditional public schools are low-performing.
  4. Most states have some form of charter schools. About 90% of the nation’s charter schools are nonprofits.
Related: America’s School Choice Map — 5 Hot Spots
Photo: EdChoice

]]> /article/watch-understand-what-a-charter-school-is-and-what-it-isnt-in-100-seconds-or-less/feed/ 0 Video Explainer: Understanding Education Savings Accounts — in 90 Seconds or Less /article/video-explainer-understanding-education-savings-accounts-in-90-seconds-or-less/ /article/video-explainer-understanding-education-savings-accounts-in-90-seconds-or-less/#respond Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000
In our continuing series of video explainers about school choice options for families (watch our debriefs of school vouchers, tax credit scholarships, and open enrollment), today we focus on education savings accounts — a six-year-old method of giving parents portable funds through which they can fund schooling, tutoring, and a variety of other services.

Four things to know about the history of ESAs:

1. The very first savings account: Education savings accounts were first created in Arizona in 2011 to help students with special needs. Under most ESA programs, families get a special debit card to pay for private school, online courses, tutoring, books, transportation, even counseling or therapy. 

2. ESAs for special student populations: Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi also have ESAs for special-needs kids. 

3. Arizona casts a wider net: Arizona also offers ESAs to students who are in foster care, belong to military families, or attend a failing school. 

4. Nevada: Nevada’s ESA program is the broadest in the country. It is open to any child in the state who has spent 100 days or more in a public school. After a court challenge, Nevada’s ESA program was declared constitutional in 2016. But the funding mechanism was declared unconstitutional. 

Nevada is letting families apply for ESAs as the state tries to figure out how to fund them.

Related: America’s School Choice Map — 5 Hot Spots
Photo: EdChoice

]]> /article/video-explainer-understanding-education-savings-accounts-in-90-seconds-or-less/feed/ 0 WATCH: Understand Open Enrollment in 120 Seconds or Less /article/watch-understand-open-enrollment-in-120-seconds-or-less/ /article/watch-understand-open-enrollment-in-120-seconds-or-less/#respond Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000
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In our continuing series of explainer videos about school choice options for families (watch our debriefs of school vouchers and tax credit scholarships), today we focus on open enrollment, a process that allows students to transfer from one public school or district to another.
Most states have either voluntary open enrollment — the school or district gets to decide whether a student can transfer — or mandatory, in which the student must be allowed to change schools. More than a dozen states have both types.
More information about open enrollment:
Funding — State and local funding follows the student from the old school to the new one.
Preferences — Students may get priority if their school is low-performing or dangerous, if they are in foster care, if they belong to an active-duty military family, or if they have a long commute to school.
Transfer Zones — Some states have special rules for particular schools or regions, to enable and encourage transfers.
Common Applications — Some districts let families apply to different types of schools — district, charter, magnet, even schools in neighboring districts — by filing a single application.

]]> /article/watch-understand-open-enrollment-in-120-seconds-or-less/feed/ 0 WATCH: Understand Tax Credit Scholarships in 60 Seconds or Less /article/watch-understand-tax-credit-scholarships-in-60-seconds-or-less/ /article/watch-understand-tax-credit-scholarships-in-60-seconds-or-less/#respond Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000
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In our continuing series of explainer videos about school choice options for families (watch our debrief on school vouchers), today we focus on tax credit scholarships that are now available to students and donors in nearly two dozen states.
In states where tax credits are granted to donors, the credit can range from $250 to $1,000; in states that prioritize tax deductions for families, that range can increase from $1,000 to $10,000 per child.
More information about the two types of programs:
Tax Credits for Donations — Some states give credits to individuals or businesses that donate to a scholarship-granting organization. This SGO then uses the donations to award private school scholarships to qualifying students. (Some states reserve scholarships for low- or middle-income students, students from low-achieving districts or students who attended a public school the previous year.)
Tax Credits or Deductions for Families — Other states give families private school tax credits or let them deduct tuition (or other expenses).

]]> /article/watch-understand-tax-credit-scholarships-in-60-seconds-or-less/feed/ 0 WATCH: What You Need to Know About School Vouchers (in 90 Seconds) /article/watch-what-you-need-to-know-about-school-vouchers-in-90-seconds/ /article/watch-what-you-need-to-know-about-school-vouchers-in-90-seconds/#respond Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 +0000

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In honor of National School Choice Week, ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ is launching a series of videos explaining the different types of public and private school choice programs currently available to families in different states.

Today, a breakdown of school vouchers — and where they may well fit into President Trump’s broader education agenda:

Five things parents should know about school vouchers:

176,000: An estimated 176,000 American students across more than a dozen states pay for private school using vouchers. Vouchers let families who don’t want to send their children to local public schools use public funds for private school tuition.

Every school is different: States give private schools public funds to subsidize all or part of tuition for students. Some private schools agree not to charge more than the amount of the voucher. Vouchers are typically for less than what the state would pay to educate a child in public school.

Three types of students: Traditionally, vouchers serve three groups of students — children from low-income families, children with disabilities and children attending chronically failing schools.

Religious schools: Some states let parents use vouchers for religious schools. Others prohibit this, citing separation of church and state.

$20 billion: While a candidate, President Trump suggested making vouchers available to more low-income students by giving states $20 billion in federal school aid to use for vouchers.

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