School choice is the right choice

Donald Trump has returned to the White House, and the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, though the margin remains tight in the House of Representatives. Polls indicate that Americans’ trust in the Democratic Party is at a historic low. Republicans have a historic opportunity to implement much of their agenda.

That agenda includes significant reforms aimed at K-12 education. When the GOP adopted its party platform last summer, the party committed itself to nine educational priorities, including universal school choice. According to the party’s platform,

Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America. We will expand 529 Education Savings Accounts and support Homeschooling Families equally.

Trump has signaled his commitment to school choice with his recent executive order “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunities for Families.” The order is unambiguous: “It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.” The accompanying guidance is directed not only to the Department of Education, but also the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and the Interior

School choice has long been a priority for conservatives, including many evangelicals. There was a dramatic rise in private K-12 schools beginning in the 1960s. Many such schools were affiliated with local churches. Though some of the earliest private schools were founded in opposition to racial desegregation, especially in the Deep South, by the 1970s the more significant catalyst was growing concerns about secular humanist assumptions in many public schools. Secularism and its implications also contributed to the growing popularity of homeschooling in the 1980s and 1990s.

The early 1990s also marked the beginning of the charter school movement, which allowed for greater parental input into public education. The earliest school voucher bills were also passed in the early 1990s, enabling low-income families to afford private educational options. In the 2010s, states began establishing various types of tax-free education savings accounts (ESAs). Depending upon one’s context, ESA funds could go towards tuition, tutoring, educational supplies, and in some cases college.

Progressives and their allies in the teachers’ unions have fought against school choice every step of the way. Because of their influence, the school choice movement has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years. In my own state of South Carolina, the legislature approved a voucher program in March 2024 that would facilitate universal school choice, but the state’s supreme court struck down the program in October. In the November elections, voters in Kentucky and Nebraska pushed back on school choice, while Colorado voters declined to enshrine a right to school choice in their state constitution. Not surprisingly, the reliably progressive National Education Association (NEA)—which is not only the largest teachers’ union but is the largest labor union of any sort in the nation—celebrated these decisions.

The NEA and similar teachers’ unions perpetuate the myth that vouchers harm students because there is not enough accountability outside mainstream public education. To be clear, what they really mean is that they are unable to control what is taught in private schools and among homeschooling families, and their control is often limited—by parents—in charter schools. These are the same teachers’ unions whose secularist assumptions are far more pronounced in 2025 than they were a generation ago, when the school choice movement began in earnest.

In recent years, the public education industrial complex has commended homosexuality, defended transgender madness, foisted DEI training on teachers, promoted Critical Race Theory to students, and mandated draconian responses to COVID-19 that undermined student learning. All this was done despite the concerns raised by many parents, not all of whom are socially conservative. If this is what educational accountability looks like, it is no wonder that private education is growing, the number of homeschooled children has doubled in the past two decades, and the demand for charter schools has never been higher.

Families, not teacher unions, are the best judge of what sort of education is best for their children. Universal school choice remains the best policy for enabling maximal educational freedom for as many families as possible, regardless of where they live and their level of income. The president has made clear where his administration stands. The time is now for the Republican Party at every level to pass common sense legislation that empowers families rather than educational bureaucrats and progressive teachers’ unions. School choice is the right choice for America’s children.