School choice programs increase 84 percent in 5 years

No, not here, silly. In the rest of the United States! Do I have to explain everything to you?! Passing on bits of the press release from the Alliance for School Choice:

Student enrollment in private school choice programs, which include school voucher programs and scholarship tax credit programs, has increased by 84 percent over five years, according to the School Choice Yearbook 2007…

According to the book, there are 16 private school choice programs in nine states and the District of Columbia serving 150,000 children. Last year, legislators in 40 states introduced legislation to advance private school choice programs.

The five states with the largest school choice programs are Florida (39,000 students), Pennsylvania (38,000 students), Arizona (28,000 students), Wisconsin (19,000 students) and Ohio (14,000 students). As expected, the eight programs that have been enacted within the last three years are off to a strong start, with nearly 19,000 children participating in 2007-08 school year. Notably, Ohio’s EdChoice program more than doubled its size in just one school year.

“The evidence shows that private school choice is on the rise throughout the country— with every program in existence continuing to demonstrate solid year-to-year student enrollment growth,” said the book’s author and primary researcher, Geoffrey Goodman.

The Yearbook also reveals that—contrary to popular belief—school choice is a increasingly becoming a bi-partisan issue, with three quarters of legislative victories over the past two years resulting because of Democratic support.

“The status quo of our nation’s public education system is not working for far too many children, particularly those who are minority and low-income,” said Charles R. Hokanson, president of the Alliance for School Choice. “These children should not have to wait for public schools to slowly improve; they need high-quality options now.”