I don’t support Education Savings Accounts, but if I did…

I love student achievement more than I hate big government

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are all the rage. Their supporters won't let you forget it, publicly or behind closed doors.

Pitched as a flexible means of funding education so parents can control their children's education, there's significant room for improvement to ensure they effectively serve the best academic interests of students and society.

As a former evangelist for school choice programs, friends and unfriends have questions about why I'm not supportive of ESAs now that states seem more eager than ever to establish them. I was a choice warrior, but now I'm at the tip of a different spear.

This would get very long if I vented about all the ways the accountability-free and quality-blind agenda of education reform's right wing is contaminating what was once a science-based movement focused on better educating America's children. My goal has always been for more children to learn, achieve, and succeed in life, not just to have choices for choice's sake.

ESAs are just one form of school choice I supported, and, honestly, it was the form I knew the least about. ESAs do not contribute to the one thing I've always considered the most important: student achievement. ESA laws are being passed by stealth, anti-democratic means without accountability guardrails against grift.

Still, if you force me to articulate how ESAs could be implemented to serve the public good, I propose three ideas.

Accountability Is Non-negotiable

When public funds are allocated for education, there's a fundamental expectation that students will receive a high-quality education. That doesn't happen for far too many kids, but it's the goal. ESAs should require students to participate in the same state tests as their peers in public schools so that education leaders and the public know whether the investment is working. This form of accountability doesn't guarantee effective learning outcomes, but it shines a light when outcomes are concerning. ESAs lack robust accountability measures, which can result in inconsistent educational standards and could lead to a future where we have many more students who fail to get the basic education they need to thrive in adult life.

A Targeted Approach for Maximum Impact

The bottom line is that I don't want taxpayer money for public school students to subsidize the private school tuition of millionaires' kids who've never darkened the doorway of a public school. To address this, ESAs should be recalibrated to be means-tested and needs-based. This approach ensures that financial aid is channeled to families facing genuine economic challenges or students in underperforming public schools. By focusing resources on those who need them most, we can maximize the impact of ESAs and guarantee equitable access to quality education for every child.

Safeguarding Civil Rights

It is non-negotiable that ESAs should never compromise civil rights protections. These accounts must not be used to support schools that engage in discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. All students, regardless of their backgrounds, must have access to learning environments free from prejudice. Furthermore, fair treatment concerning admissions, discipline, and program access should be guaranteed for every ESA recipient. These protections should also extend to school staff.

None of these demands make ESAs good. The evidence for how lax ESA laws improve student achievement is locked in a box of wishful thinking and reckless disregard for research. My complaints about the programs diverting funds to pay for trampolines, private Karate lessons, and tickets to Disneyland are old now. Yet, someone has to call out that when we focus rigorously on what does and doesn't work in education, we still fall short, so pursuing less rigorous means of educational accountability is a luxury a wise society can't afford. Someone has to hold the line on educational accountability that prioritizes better outcomes.

While ESAs could be a tool for improving learning, they'll require a lot of plastic surgery to look good to science-minded people. Accountability, means-testing, and protecting civil rights are pivotal steps in this journey. Implementing these changes and my harassment of school choice televangelists might subside. Until then, I'll continue being a warrior for ensuring every child has access to a quality education, regardless of their background or circumstances. The strength and prosperity of a nation are intrinsically tied to the education of its people, so I support the view that our collective investment in education should be judged by how many citizens leave schools educated.

By that standard, the numbers aren't good for traditional education, but I predict they'll be worse for kids coming through the new systems proposed by anti-government right-wing hippies. Education Savings Accounts, ironically, aren't a path to education; they won't produce any savings, and they certainly can't be held to account.