Courses

In 1991, a public and private school choice program emerged in Minnesota and Wisconsin, respectively. Thirty-one years later, 44 states and the District of Columbia have a public charter school law that governs the education of 3.4 million students – most of whom are lower-income students of color – and 31 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have a private school choice law. Each school choice program has received bi-partisan support over the years, although private school choice programs receive more support from republicans compared to democrats. Polling data consistently identify support for both choice models. However, courts have been asked to weigh in on the constitutionality of each school choice program since the 1990s. Most legal challenges to the constitutionality of charter schools have been upheld by state courts. Regarding private school choice programs, the results are mixed. Some state courts have ruled against those programs while others have upheld them. On the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a voucher program in Cleveland, OH (2002), a tax credit program in Montana (2020), and a tax credit program in Maine on June 21, 2022. Nevertheless, public and private school choice programs remain one of the most contentious issues in K-12 education. Why? Because they raise fundamental questions about the role of schools in a democratic society, social justice vs. market-based principles, separation of church and state, and issues associated with race, gender, and socioeconomic status. With this said, what accounts for the growth of school choice programs? The answers to this question will come from a practitioner’s perspective. In this course, we will examine the following: (1) historical and contemporary controversies surrounding school choice programs; (2) executive, legislative, and judicial decisions that influences school choice; (3) research about the effectiveness and weaknesses of school choice on student outcomes; and (4) the role of interest groups and philanthropy in state and federal school choice politics.