The Club for Growth released a new report, obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter, that makes a compelling case “for educational freedom” as part of the cure to America’s K-12 educational failings.
The report criticizes public schools for “operat[ing] as a government-controlled monopoly, leaving families with limited options for their children’s education and with limited ways to hold school officials accountable for poor outcomes,” and notes that test scores across the country have been “stagnant.”
“The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals declining proficiency rates in key subjects like math and reading, even as states spend billions of dollars on public education each year,” the Club noted. “In many cases, administrative costs are growing faster than teacher salaries, diverting resources away from the classroom and into bloated bureaucracies.”
“Parents understand their children’s needs better than any federal agency or state bureaucracy ever will,” David McIntosh, the Club for Growth’s president, told the Reporter. “The evidence bears this out concretely; these are not ideological experiments. The question now is whether more states will lift the unnecessary burden of zip-code-assigned schooling. It’s time to give every child in this country access to the education that fits their needs, not the one assigned to them by geography.”
That report is exactly what McIntosh’s organization recommends: “educational freedom,” and it notes that Trump-won states like Arizona and Florida, “where school choice policies have led to better student outcomes at a lower cost,” offer a roadmaps that the other 48 states can look to.
“By allowing families to direct education funding toward the best learning environment for their children — whether that be a public, charter, private, homeschool, or hybrid model — competition is introduced, forcing schools to innovate, become more efficient, and prioritize student success,” it notes.
The Club’s solutions include universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), tax-credit scholarships, open enrollment policies, and deregulation, which it argues “can break the cycle of underperformance and wasted spending, empowering both parents and teachers to effect educational change.”
Another solution it offers is a longstanding GOP priority: “the expansion of charter and magnet schools.”
The report, which can be accessed here, is the latest move by the Club to push for issues like school choice and reduced government spending.
