Brian Jodice

Every state will have school choice soon.

"Illinois voters overwhelmingly sent a message to Gov. Pritzker in the March 17 primary election: They want him to opt into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. Residents in all or part of 31 Illinois counties had the opportunity to vote on whether they think the state’s students should benefit from the new program, which allows for donor-provided education money. A resounding 135,000 Illinoisans — over 63% of the vote total on the question as of Wednesday morning — had registered their support for participating. In EVERY place in which the non-binding referendum question was on the ballot, a majority favored opting into the program." More: illinoispolicy.org/voters-say-ill…

A can't miss conversation: "Historically in the education research literature, as interventions scale, efficacy goes down and cost goes up...The fascinating thing about competitive effects, particularly what we found here in Florida, is that as the (school choice) program scaled, the efficacy went up and the cost went down. The cost effectiveness got better as the program got larger, completely opposite of what you would expect in most educational interventions." - @parthurgraff, Sr. Fellow at @SchoolChoiceNow Extremely insightful conversation on competitive effects with @GinnyGentles on @DFIPolicy: youtube.com/watch?v=ANBBjI…

Do school choice programs only help the families who use them? This week on Freedom to Learn, @schoolchoicenow Senior Fellow Patrick Graff (@ParthurGraff) breaks down his latest study, revealing how school choice benefits public school students, too.

Great conversation with @GinnyGentles about school choice competition and school spending - worth a listen! Thank you for having me on to talk about my 3rd grade teaching days in Tampa and my new research synthesis on Florida’s school choice experiment

On the latest episode of All Things with @KimStrassel, American Federation for Children CEO @Tommy_USA says school choice will be an important issue during the midterm elections in November. on.wsj.com/4slJ8or

One of the most common questions I get when describing school choice is "I support parents having a choice, but what about the public schools?" Excited to share a new study out today that examines these (potentially) competing policy alternatives directly: Does funding school choice harm public schools by taking away needed funding? Or Does funding school choice create competitive accountability which also benefits public school students? I've been thinking through this work for the last few years and am grateful to @EducationNext for publishing my piece based on the study. Here's what I found:

Notice a trend?

You don't say...

100% correct. No notes. @NYPostOpinion

A Glimmer of Hope in Illinois (via @WSJopinion) "Parents shouldn’t have to put up with this, but Illinois lawmakers refused to extend the state’s tax-credit scholarship program when it expired in 2023. Opting into the federal tax credit is a way to remedy that mistake, at no state cost. Will Gov. Pritzker listen to voters?" More: wsj.com/opinion/illino…

Myth-Busting March MYTH #3: “School choice increases segregation.” Let’s be honest: School access has been tied to ZIP code for decades. And ZIP codes are tied to income and/or systemic redlining. School choice breaks that link. Research reviews show choice programs often improve integration—or have no negative effect. Choice doesn’t create inequality. It gives families a way out of it. @Available2All @afcpress @valeriagurr Myth #4 next week.

Why the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit means so much to my family (by Jessica Everett for @idahoednews) "When my daughter started at Cole Valley in third grade, she was reading and writing at a kindergarten level. By the end of fourth grade, she was reading and writing at grade level and made the Honor Roll. My son has also flourished and now plays in both the pep band and jazz band, developing his love for music. Today, both of my children are thriving. That is why programs like the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit matter so much. They give families the freedom to choose the educational environment that best supports their children and provide meaningful financial relief to families making sacrifices for their kids’ futures." More: idahoednews.org/voices/why-the…

Teacher union greed is fueling a national demand for school choice (via @nypost editorial board) "Yet the school-choice movement is burning up the nation: Too many families are now wise to what a racket union-controlled public schools have become."

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How should states invest limited education dollars to raise student achievement at scale?” New research from the American Federation for Children asked this question and found that Florida’s school choice investment was 11 times more cost-effective than increasing public school spending. Patrick Graff, Senior Fellow with the American Federation for Children, compared the best research in the competitive effects of school choice programs and the best research in K-12 school spending, both of which were published in top economics journals. He found that Florida's school choice rich policy environment benefited both public and private school students, and the effects of competition created a return on investment MUCH larger than simply spending more on public schools. School Choice or School Spending? Florida’s 15-Year Experiment Points to the Answer. More: dfipolicy.org/freedomtolearn/

In the queue for this morning: Patrick Graff (@parthurgraff) on School Spending, School Choice, & the Benefits of Competition (via @GinnyGentles and the @DFIPolicy Freedom to Learn Podcast 🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pat… 🟢 open.spotify.com/episode/4zqEOv…

ICYMI: New study digs deeper on school choice expansion and public school student academic gains. "This new evidence from Graff's analysis of the cost-effectiveness of Florida’s approach reveals something completely different. 'Fostering competition and accountability through well-designed school choice policy produces far greater academic returns for public school students than simply increasing public education budgets. The evidence from Florida is clear: expanding private school choice programs helped public school students, too. In contrast to most education interventions in which cost goes up, and effect sizes go down as they attempt to scale, the effect of competition on public schools in Florida grew with program size, accelerating Florida’s return on investment.'" @parthurgraff joined the Dean's List Podcast on @OutLoudNews: americaoutloud.news/new-research-s…

"Now this school year, thanks to Texas, it's going to be about 10 and a half billion dollars benefiting maybe about 1.5 million students. So then when you factor in the new Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which comes online next year, I mean, it is just an absolute tipping point moment for school choice. A really parent-driven movement that has been going on for nearly 40 years in many cases." - @Tommy_USA, CEO of @SchoolChoiceNow Truly fantastic watch & listen w/ @KimStrassel on @WSJopinion All Things Podcast: wsj.com/video/series/p…

Every governor in every state should opt in for the education freedom tax credit.