Education Savings Accounts: The New Frontier in School Choice

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 sixteen. 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.