The Goldwater Institute has released A Parent’s Guide to School Choice: Education Options for Arizona Families, which provides a comprehensive guide to Arizona families of all the school choice programs available to them, including other families’ experiences and how to apply. The Goldwater Institute is advocating for a state-mandated annual school choice catalog to inform families of the wide range of education options available.
According to Jonathan Butcher of the Goldwater Institute, “a school choice catalog could be produced by the state at no additional cost to the general fund. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, Arizona receives almost $350 million every year to help children succeed through services like tutoring and increasing parent engagement (the funding source is known as Title I). The department’s production of an annually mailed school choice catalog would qualify for this funding as an effort to increase parent engagement in children’s education.”
The Institute is asking the Arizona Department of Education to inform parents about the programs at their fingertips.
They say that school choice programs “give every child the chance to succeed, and they save the state money. Informing parents that they have great school choice options is a no-brainer to help Arizona families.”
Arizona offers tax-credits to fund tuition scholarships, charter schools, and education savings account program, making it a national leader in school choice. According to Butcher, “the state has a broader range of school options than anywhere else in the country.”