Conversations surrounding school choice have grown throughout the state
There has been growing noise in California to put a school choice initiative on the ballot in 2022. A petition called the California School Choice Initiative has been gathering signatures to try to put Educational Freedom Act on ballots this year.
“More than two years in the drafting, the Educational Freedom Act treats everyone in California equally,” reads the California School Choice Initiative website. “Parents of every Californian child have the freedom to spend $14,000 provided by the State of California at a school of their choice—no matter how much money they make.”
The Educational Freedom Act is designed to offer parents the ability to choose which school their children attend without costing people more taxpayer money. Research shows that California spends on average $21,152 per year for each child enrolled in the public K-12 public school system. Meanwhile, the Private School Review says that the average cost of a private elementary school in the state of college is $14,411 per year.
“The Educational Freedom Act gets it right,” the website reads. “It makes everything equal and fair. The key is the direction of state education tax dollars into the hands of parents. That funding follows the student without conditions, mandates, or means testing. Every California family and every California student is treated equally.”
The Educational Freedom Act would permit a portion of the Prop. 98 funding to help any child to attend a certain school in California. California public schools are funded through a mixture of bonds, donations, federal funds, parcel taxes, and Prop. 98 funding. As a result, most public schools get money based on how many students are enrolled. The petition needs 1.2 million signatures to get on the November 2022 ballot.
