Education Savings Accounts: The New Frontier in School Choice

Available April 26, 2017 ISBN: 978-1475830231 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Buy the book. School choice has been central to American education policy debate for a quarter century. But throughout, school choice has been just that — school choice. In a potentially profound development, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) reimagine parent choice in ways that may upend many assumptions that have framed issues of school choice in the past. ESAs offer something wholly new, allowing parents to customize their child’s education by stitching together traditional schools and different education providers, including tutors, therapists, online, and blended models. Of course, a raft of new questions and potential challenges accompany these new ESA programs, which in 2015, existed in five states — Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee — and were introduced by legislators in another 16. Yet, for all their potential import, ESAs are barely understood. This volume seeks to provide a comprehensive, fair-minded treatment of ESAs and will address the rationale for them, the challenges they pose, what it takes for them to work and the political and legal dynamics at play. Content “Introduction” Adam Peshek and Gerard Robinson “You Say You Want an Evolution? The History, Promise, and Challenges of Education Savings Accounts” Matthew Ladner “The Constitutional Case for ESAs” Tim Keller “Education Savings Accounts: The Great Unbundling of K–12 Education” Adam Peshek “Public and Policymaker Perceptions of Education Savings Accounts: The Road to Real Reform?” Robert C. Enlow and Michael Chartier “The ESA Administrator’s Dilemma: Tackling Quality Control” John Bailey “State Education Agencies, Regulatory Models, and ESAs” Gerard Robinson “Parents and Providers Speak Up” Allysia Finley “Hubs and Spokes: The Supply Side Response to Deregulated Education Funding” Michael Q. McShane “Settling on Education Savings Accounts” Nat Malkus “Conclusion” Nat Malkus