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In a free country where the American dream revolves around dictating the direction of your own life, parents and students are still unable to detach from failing schools. With an overwhelming amount of support for school choice flooding the country, where is the implementation of programs to match desires? What can families do to free themselves of a system that constantly seems to be working against them? Which system could provide economic assistance that supports school choice? Vouchers.

With the recent release of The Friedman Foundation’s 2014 report on school vouchers, the fiscal impact of school choice is undoubtedly making its way into education reform conversation. “The School Voucher Audit,” which concludes that school choice methods save money, takes readers on a field trip back to math class with easy-to-digest equations that break down fiscal impact. “Net savings per student x number of voucher recipients = total net savings”, “Per-student cost burden – public school > cost of voucher = net savings per student”, etc. For those of us less mathematically inclined, what does all of it mean?

As evidenced in “School Choice Today: Voucher Laws Across the States Ranking & Scorecard”, a report by the Center for Education Reform (CER), it is clear to see that vouchers are directly helping students. But there is an urgent need for more; more vouchers, more options, more accessibility, more school choice. When analyzing individual states, the report found that voucher programs available to all students, instead of just for specific circumstances (low-income or special needs for example), were able to reach more people and were therefore more beneficial. The CER report shows that out of 14 states and the District of Columbia, only six states earned an “A” or “B” ranking, evidence that voucher programs can work, there just needs to be a greater amount available to all students in the state.

Not only do choice programs work – they actually save money. In The Friedman Foundation report, the 10 school voucher programs studied saw a cumulative savings of at least $1.7 billion between Parental Choice Program’s implementation in 1990 and 2010. The report breaks down the total fiscal effect of vouchers by addressing the argument that public schools lose money when they lose enrollment. What people fail to recognize, however, is that public schools are relieved of cost burdens when students switch to a private education. Essentially, if a student uses a voucher to leave the public school system and costs less money at the private school, there is automatic fiscal savings. School enrollment decrease + voucher program = savings. Basically, voucher programs are not going anywhere, and while there is room for improving the way in which cost differences are handled, school choice programs improve academic standards and save money.

Gone are the days where private schools are exclusively for the nation’s most endowed; we are entering a new time of education reform and parent empowerment. With vouchers, low-income parents are given back the rights to their child’s education and can once again trust the education system. Policy is important and the implementation of individual programs is crucial. Vouchers are only as strong as their availability to students, and it is time for an expansion.