How parents choose schools under private school subsidies

Parental Choice

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires that “states and local school districts provide information to help parents make informed educational choices for their child (US Department of Education, 2013).” Education savings accounts (ESAs) have gained some momentum in the last couple of years as many school choice organizations have pushed them in state legislatures across the country, and are in many instances called parental choice programs (Simone, 2015). ESAs are just one of many options that parents have when it comes to educational opportunities for their children. However, ESAs can provide a wider array of options for parents when choosing where to send their child to school and the manner in which they are receive that education (e.g., home schooling).

A form of ESA created in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and geared toward private school attendance, is the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). The state provides private schools with state aid on behalf of the parents, for a child that has been admitted to the program (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2013). A publication by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction studied peer-reviewed articles and found that levels of parental satisfactions between MPCP and Milwaukee Public Schools were equal. Parental satisfaction was the most common reason cited by parents for students leaving the MPCP program and returning to Milwaukee public schools (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2013).

There are few parental choice programs that have been adopted by states. However, with model legislation for education savings accounts being created by organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the likelihood of ESAs being taken up by state legislatures will likely increase in the coming years.