Trump's school choice executive order

What it could mean for school choice deserts like Kentucky

One of the many executive orders President Trump issued in his first two weeks concerned school choice. This was great news for Kentucky families still yearning for education options after the defeat of the Amendment 2 school choice ballot initiative last November.

The President’s executive order does not change much in the short run. But symbolically it amounts to an enormous shift in federal education policy and could eventually open the door to empowering Kentucky families who are currently stuck with few choices for where their children attend school.

“Too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school,” Trump wrote in his executive order, citing recent National Assessment of Educational Program (NAEP) data showing that overall student achievement continues to decline. “It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”

The executive order directs the U.S. Department of Education to develop guidance for how states might use federal funds they are already receiving to expand education options.

It does not appear from the wording of the order that states can be forced to adopt school choice policies or lose their federal education funding, something that would be necessary to implement large scale school choice in Kentucky, given the state courts’ and the education establishment’s insistence on denying families such options.

However, the order also directs the Departments of Education, Labor, Defense, and Health and Human Services to explore ways that discretionary federal funds could be used to help eligible families access private, faith-based education options and public charter schools. This could be directly valuable to children of military personnel living in Kentucky, and possibly many others.

With such federal programs, states can’t stop students from participating. Which is how it should be.

As Colleen Hroncich and Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute recently wrote,

“Education choices should not be based on majority rule. It is simply wrong to compel families to pay for, and de facto attend, government schools – places intended to do nothing less than shape human minds - that they find subpar, or even morally unacceptable, even if the majority is okay with them.”

While President Trump’s executive order may eventually do much good, the longer-range solution for Kentucky families is a federal tax credit that would encourage private donations to help income-eligible students access nonpublic school options. Last week the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) was introduced in the U.S. Senate, and it parallels legislation currently pending before the U.S. House of Representatives, which I wrote about for the Bowling Green Daily News:

The ECCA would provide a federal tax credit to encourage private donations by individuals and business to scholarship programs to help children from income-eligible families with a host of education expenses, including private school tuition.

ECCA scholarships could also be used for tutoring, special needs services, homeschooling curriculum materials, and educational technology, benefitting an array of students regardless of the type of school they attend.

President Trump’s executive order implies that he would readily sign such legislation, so let’s pray that Congress will move swiftly on the ECCA. Let your lawmakers know you believe that every family, regardless of income or zip code, should have the same rights to choose the best school for their children as affluent parents enjoy every day.