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Private Choice

Empowering parents and transforming lives through private educational options. 

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About Private School Choice 

Increasingly, American families are looking beyond the traditional system for settings better aligned with their children’s needs. Private school choice empowers parents by offering alternatives—parochial schools, Jewish day schools, homeschooling, microschools, and more—that fit each child. Pioneer advances these options because they expand opportunity and encourage the public system to refocus on its core mission: cultivating independent thought, curiosity, character, and citizenship. 

Over the past decade, private education has shifted dramatically, with two dozen states adopting vouchers, Education Savings Accounts, and similar programs. Technology has accelerated this change, making home- and micro-schooling more accessible. Pioneer supported key cases—Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020) and Carson v. Makin (2022)—that dismantled discriminatory statutes and constitutional barriers to school choice. 

A decade ago, only a small share of U.S. students had access to state-sanctioned private choice programs; today nearly 1 in 2 do. And more states continue to debate new school choice expansions. 

Latest from Private Choice

Education
August 21, 2025

School Choice is Expanding like Never Before—Now Comes the Real Test

School choice is sometimes sold as a cure-all for underperforming public schools, other times it is deemed ineffective and a siphon of public resources. Both can be true, but this debate misses the point: school choice is not a guarantor of student success, nor was it ever intended to be. Its purpose is to provide choices, and most agree that choice is good. Not all choices will be good, to be sure. Indeed, there are poor-performing charter and private schools, just as there are ineffective district schools. When systems with school choice features fail, we ought to blame and reform the choices—they are clearly of poor quality—not ban the freedom to choose. It is grossly undemocratic to suggest otherwise.
Education
June 17, 2025

Study Recommends Easing Barriers to Innovative Learning Models

Despite Massachusetts families’ strong interest in alternative to traditional educational models, entrepreneurs seeking to establish innovative learning environments face significant challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
Education
May 15, 2025

Pioneer Institute Releases Toolkit to Transform Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Pioneer Institute has released a new Urban Voc-Tech Toolkit  aimed at helping Boston’s Madison Park Technical Vocational High School reach its full potential as a driver of opportunity for high-need students. Drawing on the successes of vocational-technical schools in Worcester, Springfield, and across Massachusetts, the toolkit outlines strategies based on high academic standards, strong industry partnerships, and increased school autonomy. The toolkit was coauthored by a group of five nationally recognized education leaders.
Education
April 29, 2025

Pioneer Institute Releases 2025 Toolkit to Guide Policymakers on Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

New report urges maximizing tax-credit value to expand educational opportunity and boost private contributions
Education
October 24, 2024

Mountain State Modifications: Tiffany Uses ESA Flexibility to Pivot Quickly For Her Son’s Education

This week on Homeschooling Journeys, we meet Tiffany Hoben from West Virginia. Curious Mike chatted with her twice: once in June 2024, and again in October 2024.  This October episode shows the nature of homeschooling: plans change.  That cuts both good and bad.  One cool opportunity disappeared; but at roughly the same time, a new need emerged, as well as the perfect educator to solve that problem.  Tiffany, like other homeschoolers using Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), has a variety of experiences: she gets to personalize her son’s education, but in doing so, experiences friction that comes both from DIY and from the red tape of actually making purchases (software challenges and bureaucratic hoops).  Her $4,900 “Hope Scholarship” is used for her son’s biology curriculum, rock climbing, an AI-aided writing class, and above all, a specialized phonics tutor.  She is optimistic about the future of ESAs for homeschoolers in West Virginia.  

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Education
September 20, 2022

Two Stars in a Glowing Voc-Tech Education System

American Citizenship, Education, Opportunity
August 4, 2022

School-Age Population Remains Steady, but Boston Struggles With Declining Enrollment

Education
June 8, 2022

Book Finds Massachusetts Voc-Tech Schools Are National Model, Calls for Expansion

Education
April 6, 2022

Accelerating Learning at KIPP

Education
March 30, 2022

Study Finds Continued Growth in Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

Education
March 30, 2022

Earning Full Credit: A Toolkit for Designing Tax-Credit Scholarship Policies (2022 Edition)

Education
January 26, 2022

Modeling an Education Savings Account for Massachusetts

Education
January 26, 2022

Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts

Meet the Experts

Jamie Gass

Jamie Gass

Director of PioneerEducation

Fact of the day

Dependency Index – Federal Money to the States

Think you know which states depend most on Washington? Pioneer’s new Dependency Index may change your mind. Alaska ranks most dependent on federal funds, and Idaho ranks least. Check out where your state ranks here! https://loom.ly/6LMwO0c

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