Doing the math: School choice saves money

An EdChoice analysis of 48 school choice programs across 25 states and Washington, D.C. estimates the programs generated cumulative net fiscal benefits for taxpayers worth between $19.4 billion to $45.6 billion.

“This translates to up to $7,800 a student,” writes the study’s author Martin Lueken in The Wall Street Journal. “Put another way, for every dollar spent on these programs, taxpayers have saved between $1.70 and $2.64 — a significant return on investment.”

Lueken crunched the numbers of five education savings account programs, 22 school voucher programs, and 21 tax-credit scholarship programs that have all been in operation for at least five years through fiscal year 2022. Thirty-one of the studied school choice programs have been in place for at least 10 years.

An argument oft used against educational freedom is that it destroys funding at area public schools and causes budget meltdowns. “But these [school choice] programs represent only a fraction of overall state spending,” explains Lueken. “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.”

In Minnesota, a state without any of the school choice programs Lueken analyzed, spending on E-12 public education is Minnesota’s biggest general fund expenditure. For the 2024-2025 biennium, E-12 education makes up nearly 35 percent of all general fund dollars and is expected to push nearly 39 percent for the 2026-2027 biennium.

But there are a number of states that spend significantly less than Minnesota per public school student and outperform our state. And they also have robust school choice programs. That’s because along with positive fiscal effects, school choice programs help improve student academic performance at the area public schools, too. Out of 29 empirical studies on the effects of private school choice programs on public school students’ test scores, 26 (90 percent) found positive effects. One study found no visible effect of a school choice program on public school students’ test scores, and two found a negative effect.

Minnesota has had years to join both red and blue states across the country that recognize a top-down education system simply can’t meet the needs of all students. With an education savings account bill primed and ready to go at the Capitol, perhaps legislators will get serious this session about giving Minnesotans, even Democrats, what they want — real school choice.

With news forecasting an unsustainable state budget, it could be a good move for the pocketbook as well.