• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Home
HOME | 185 Devonshire Street, Suite 1101 Boston, MA 02110 | 617-723-2277 | pioneer@pioneerinstitute.org
Pioneer Institute
  • ABOUT
    • Pioneer’s Mission
    • Our Founding and History
    • Pioneer’s Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Academic Advisors
    • Annual Reports
    • Pioneer’s Financial Information
    • Pioneer’s Employment Opportunities
      • Roger Perry Internship Program
      • Pioneer’s Internship Program
  • RESEARCH
    • Policy Research
    • Policy Overview
    • PioneerEducation
      • BOOK: Hands-On Achievement
      • BOOK: A Vision of Hope – Catholic Schooling in Massachusetts
      • Remote Learning Resources during COVID
      • Podcast: “The Learning Curve”
      • End the Blaine Amendments
      • Civil Rights and Education Reform
      • School Choice
      • U.S. History Instruction
      • Higher Education
      • Common Core National Education Standards
      • Academic Standards
    • PioneerHealth
      • Pioneer Institute’s Life Sciences Initiative
      • Healthcare Price Transparency
      • Affordable, Innovative Care
      • Hewitt Healthcare Lecture
      • Book: U-Turn: America’s Return to State Healthcare Solutions
    • PioneerOpportunity
      • New Book: “Back to Taxachusetts?”
      • Business Recovery & Taxes
      • City Spotlights
    • PioneerTransportation
    • PioneerPublic
      • Government Transparency
      • Criminal Justice
      • Better Government Competition
      • Benchmarking City Performance
      • Unfunded Liabilities
    • COVID Resources
  • MASS WATCH
    • MASSWATCH
    • SUNSHINE WEEK EXPLORE MASS.GOV
    • MASS IRS DATA DISCOVERY
    • MASS REPORT CARDS
    • MASS ECONOMIX
    • MASS OPEN BOOKS
    • FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
    • MBTA ANALYSIS
    • MASS PENSIONS
    • MASS ANALYSIS
    • LABOR ANALYTICS
    • TRACKING COVID-19
      • Age-Group Tracker
      • Vaccine Tracker
  • MULTIMEDIA
    • Podcasts
      • The Learning Curve Podcast
      • JobMakers Podcast
      • Hubwonk Podcast
    • Blog
    • Videos
    • Op-eds
    • Pioneer in the Press
  • PioneerLegal
  • EVENTS
    • Our Events
  • DONATE
    • Donate
    • Membership
    • Pioneer Young Professionals (PYP) Network
    • Ways to Donate
    • Tyler Family Memorial Fund
  • MORE…
    • Subscribe to our Newsletter
    • Policy Research
    • Press Releases
    • Podcasts
      • JobMakers
      • Hubwonk Podcast
      • The Learning Curve Podcast
    • Videos
    • Blog
    • Op-Eds
    • Pioneer in the Press
    • Bookstore
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Donate
Editorial Staff

Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts

January 26, 2022/in Featured, Press Releases, Press Releases: Choice Programs, Press Releases: Education, Press Releases: School Choice, School Choice /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Programs have been gaining momentum across the country in the wake of unprecedented pandemic learning loss

BOSTON – Massachusetts provides fewer options for students to be educated outside their assigned school districts than most other states do, and educational savings accounts (ESAs) offer an effective tool for giving students additional opportunities, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

WATCH: Pioneer Institute Senior Fellow Cara Stillings Candal explains how ESAs could help thousands of Massachusetts parents

ESAs allow parents to take the state portion of their child’s per-pupil funding allocation and spend it on approved expenses that usually replace the district school experience, such as homeschooling, full-time tutoring, or private school tuition.

“Despite an overall high ranking on National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, Massachusetts also has some of the starkest achievement gaps,” said Dr. Cara Candal, author of “Modeling an Education Savings Account for Massachusetts.” “ESA programs are a proven way to address that problem because they break the relationship between discriminatory housing patterns and public-school assignments that are based on residence.”

Dr. Candal finds that support for ESAs has gained momentum thanks to the unprecedented learning loss that occurred when schools switched to online learning because of the pandemic.  Five ESA programs were established between 2011 and 2018, and that number has doubled in this year alone.

“Remote learning offered many parents their first real glimpse into the type and amount of instruction their kids were receiving,” said Pioneer Director of School Reform Jamie Gass.  “Many were not happy with what they saw.”

A 2021 review of 169 high-quality studies shined a light on the impact of school choice programs on student achievement, racial segregation, and state and district finances.  Of 14 studies of student outcomes, 11 found that choice programs had a positive effect.

Six studies found that choice programs tend to move students to less segregated schools, while one found that the programs had no effect on school segregation.

Regarding the impact of school choice on taxpayers and public schools, 65 studies found that the programs save money, four found them to be revenue neutral, and five concluded that they cost taxpayers money.  Many of the programs save money because the amount parents can apply to other schooling options is less than current per-pupil funding levels.

A 2021 study of Florida’s large tax-credit scholarship program found that participants performed on a par with their national private school peers in reading and math.  The results were particularly striking because program participants had an average household income of just $32,000 per year.

Another 2021 study of the same program found that school districts from which the highest concentration of students came also benefitted from the program.  They were found to have higher test scores and lower absenteeism and suspension rates.

Dr. Candal proposes two potential ESA programs for Massachusetts.  An incremental program could use a portion of the American Rescue Plan money that has been allocated to the state Legislature and could be used for direct payments to parents.

If this State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund money were used to provide the parents of every economically disadvantaged student in Massachusetts with $3,000 that could be used for services such tutoring, special education services, and after-school enrichment classes – but not private school tuition – the Legislature would still have 80 percent of the money in the fund left over.

Unlike 29 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, Massachusetts offers no state-subsidized access to privately provided education.   Dr. Candal’s bolder and more impactful option, a tax credit-funded ESA, would change that.

Here the Commonwealth would designate a state entity or one or more non-profit scholarship granting organizations to solicit and accept donations in exchange for a tax credit equal to 95-100 percent of the donation.  The scholarships could then be awarded to families whose income is less than or equal to 250 percent of the federal poverty line.

Awards of something close to the average annual Massachusetts per-pupil expenditure of $17,500 could then be used for private school tuition and other educational enhancements.

About the Author

Cara Stillings Candal is a Senior Fellow at Pioneer Institute. She has an extensive background in national and international education policy and teacher development, and she is the author/editor of numerous articles and several books about school university partnerships, charter schools, and other structural innovations in education.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute develops and communicates dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond. Success for Pioneer is when the citizens of our state and nation prosper and our society thrives because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and when our government is limited, accountable and transparent. Pioneer believes that America is at its best when our citizenry is well-educated, committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise, and both willing and able to test their beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas.

Get Updates on Our School Choice Research

Related Posts

Study Urges Massachusetts to Embrace Innovative School Models

December 15, 2022
A new policy brief from Pioneer Institute urges Massachusetts policymakers to encourage the proliferation and progress of non-traditional models that offer families creative, flexible, personalized and low-cost private education options.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Copy-of-11.-Employees-of-the-Public-Sector-14.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-12-15 08:34:442022-12-15 08:34:44Study Urges Massachusetts to Embrace Innovative School Models

Two Stars in a Glowing Voc-Tech Education System

September 20, 2022
“A Tale of Two City Schools: Worcester Tech and Putnam Academy Become Models for Recovery” is a new white paper by Pioneer Institute that analyzes how Worcester Tech and Putnam Academy — schools with high numbers of low-income and special needs students — leapt from the bottom of Massachusetts voc-tech rankings to become leaders among local schools.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/WorcTechWeb.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-09-20 08:15:582022-09-20 08:56:58Two Stars in a Glowing Voc-Tech Education System

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

June 8, 2022
Massachusetts vocational-technical schools -- boasting minuscule dropout rates, strong academic performance, and graduates prepared for careers or higher education -- should be expanded to meet growing demand, according to a new book published by Pioneer Institute.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/NEW-BOOK.png 512 1000 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-06-08 08:47:262022-06-22 11:07:05Book Finds Massachusetts Voc-Tech Schools Are National Model, Calls for Expansion

Study Finds Continued Growth in Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

March 30, 2022
Education tax credits grew increasingly popular in 2021, with four more states enacting programs.  There are now 28 tax-credit scholarship (TCS) programs in 23 states, and they serve more than 325,000 students, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/ToolkitWebCover.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-03-30 09:00:062022-12-15 08:44:42Study Finds Continued Growth in Education Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs

Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts

January 26, 2022
Massachusetts provides fewer options for students to be educated outside their assigned school districts than most other states do, and educational savings accounts (ESAs) offer an effective tool for giving students additional opportunities, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Copy-of-education-report-8-4.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-01-26 06:21:562022-01-26 07:20:21Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts

Virtual Learning Grows During COVID

January 11, 2022
Virtual learning in K-12 education continues to grow due to the health threat caused by coronavirus variants and the assistance this learning model can provide to at-risk students, according to two papers released today by Pioneer Institute.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Copy-of-education-report-8.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-01-11 08:43:202022-01-11 10:07:01Virtual Learning Grows During COVID

Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

December 8, 2021
Pioneer Institute has filed an amicus curiae brief in Carson v. Makin urging the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down a provision of Maine law. The Court will hear oral arguments in Carson this morning (December 8) at 10 am. The Maine law being challenged allows districts that don’t have their own schools to contract with a school or pay for students that choose to attend public or private schools, but explicitly excludes religious schools.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Hubwonk-Template-55.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2021-12-08 09:51:402022-02-25 14:45:43Pioneer Institute Files Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Maine Tries to Ignore a Clear Supreme Court Ruling on Education

October 9, 2021
As the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Carson v. Makin, the facts are clear. Maine has chosen to subsidize private education. As such, it cannot disqualify all religious schools from receiving public dollars under its school choice program.
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/oped-maine-education-e1634068017899.jpg 683 1025 Charles Chieppo https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Charles Chieppo2021-10-09 19:13:062021-10-13 10:18:43Maine Tries to Ignore a Clear Supreme Court Ruling on Education
Page 1 of 17123›»

 

Tags: education savings account, ESA, ESAa, National School Choice Week, school choice
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Copy-of-education-report-8-4.png 512 1024 Editorial Staff https://pioneerinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_440x96.png Editorial Staff2022-01-26 06:21:562022-01-26 07:20:21Study Finds Massachusetts Would Benefit from Adopting Education Savings Accounts
Copyright © 2022 Pioneer Institute. All rights reserved. Developed by The Liberty Lab
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • THE PIONEER BLOG
Mandate’s Constitutional Collision: Court Offers Civics Lesson with Vaccine...Modeling an Education Savings Account for Massachusetts
Scroll to top