When Governor Glenn Youngkin proposed an Education Opportunity Scholarship Grant – similar to what exists in 28 other states – providing $5,000 in private school scholarships to 10,000 low-moderate income public school K-12 students, the reaction was instantaneous, underscoring America’s partisan divide: Republicans endorsed it. Democrats opposed it.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mt. Vernon) called it “unconstitutional.” Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the powerful Senate Finance Committee Chair immediately declared that “it’s not going to happen.” Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) charged that such aid “widens disparities,” claiming the funds are insufficient and wouldn’t cover the financial gap for private schools.
Whatever happens to the Youngkin proposal, it is part of the annual conflict over whether or not low-income parents should be empowered to make the same kind of decisions for their children that wealthy parents can, similar to those debates we saw over the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit.
It’s old non-news. But we learned long ago that if we don’t steer the narrative to the truth, the lies will take over.
This is National School Choice Week. In celebration, we thought we’d offer “the Big Four” of “School Choice Myths” and the truth that can be provided in confident rebuttal.
“It’s Unconstitutional”: Senator Surovell claims Article VII, Section 10 is unconstitutional because the first sentence prohibits state appropriations for any school not owned by the state or locality. Reading all the way to the second sentence we find it says “the General Assembly may … appropriate funds for educational purposes which may be expended in furtherance of elementary, secondary, collegiate or graduate education of Virginia students in public and nonsectarian private schools and institutions of learning.”
Or perhaps opponents are focusing in on the word “nonsectarian”, which was one of Virginia’s three anti-Catholic “Blaine Amendments”. Unfortunately for that argument, the amendment was ruled a violation of the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Supreme Court and is no longer valid. In short: There are no constitutional prohibitions.
“Scholarships don’t help”: A 2023 analysis of 187 private school choice programs found that 84 percent have positive effects on everything from student test scores to educational attainment, school safety, and helping schools become more integrated. In the area of academic achievement, researchers across five states and Washington, D.C., found 17 pieces of analysis. Eleven showed that vouchers and scholarships improved test scores for at least some students. Four studies found no effect, three showed a negative impact for some groups. A review of international school choice programs (school choice is in much greater abundance in other countries) demonstrates “evidence of positive achievement impacts.”
“School Choice hurts public schools, taking the best students.”: Not true. In fact, the evidence seems to show that, by driving competition, school choice improves public schools as well as student academic performance. A 2022 study of Ohio’s largest voucher program analyzed 13 years of data and found that the program improved district achievement. In Indiana, a 2021 study showed that scholarship students recipients performed “similarly to or better than students in traditional public schools.” A 2019 study looked at long-standing choice programs in Florida and Milwaukee and concluded “students who participated in private school choice programs were more likely to enroll in and graduate from college than similar students who remained in public schools. In Florida, college enrollment rates were 6 to 10 percentage points higher among students who attended a private school, and bachelor’s degree attainment rates were 1 or 2 percentage points higher. In Milwaukee, enrollment and attainment rates were 4 to 6 and 1 to 3 percentage points higher, respectively.”
Indeed, Florida has had a state-wide program longer than most – nearly a quarter century – making it a superb demonstration of long-term effects. Today, more than 353,000 students receive a scholarship of some type and the effect on public and private school students – particularly low-income students — has been positive. A 2023 study looked at mature choice programs in Florida and “observed growing benefits (higher standardized test scores and lower absenteeism and suspension rates) to students attending public schools with more preprogram private school options as the program matured. Effects are particularly pronounced for lower-income students, but results are positive for more affluent students as well.” A 2020 study on Florida’s tax-credit scholarship program (125,000 students) found the program benefits students who remain at their traditional public school. In fact, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results indicate that Florida public school students have generally narrowed the gap between white, black, and Hispanic students (as well as for low-income students) more than in Virginia.
There’s more … but you get the point. In fact, a 2024 study concluded that the more opportunities and options students have, the greater the improvement on NAEP scores, supporting system-wide achievement gains.
“Scholarships Take Money Away from Public Schools.”: A 2022 Iowa study conducted by the Iowa Department of Revenue found that “an analysis of the net fiscal impact of the STO Tax Credit suggests the program results in net gains for the State.” A 2018 study of ten tax credit programs found that “Tax-credit scholarship programs up to fiscal year (FY) 2014 generated positive fiscal impacts worth between $1,650 and $3,000 per scholarship student. In FY 2014 alone, tax-credit scholarship programs generated between about $2 million and $223 million for their states.” A 2020 Kennesaw State University study of Georgia’s tax credit program found that “The taxpayer cost of tax credit scholarships is significantly less than the taxpayer cost of educating scholarship students in the public schools — saving taxpayers a total of $53.2 million in academic year 2018-19 from the entire QEE program.”
A 2024 study of 48 parental choice programs in 25 states estimated that those programs “saved state and local taxpayers between $19.4 billion and $45.6 billion since their inception through FY 2022.” A 2021 study of the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit program in Virginia concluded “For the 2018-2019 school year, the Scholarships Tax Credits Program saved the state government $1.78 in education costs for every $1.00 lost in tax revenue.”
This is not a new phenomenon. Savings have been occurring for more than a dozen years. A 2008 Florida state study of its tax credit, conducted by Florida’s Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability concluded “The corporate income tax credit scholarship program produces a net savings to the state. We estimate that in Fiscal Year 2007-08, taxpayers saved $1.49 in state education funding for every dollar loss in corporate income tax revenue due to credits for scholarship contributions.” In fact, nine different studies have shown the same thing in Florida.
But wait! There’s more! A 2020 study indicates that exposure to Milwaukee’s Parental Choice program “is associated with a reduction of around 53 percent in drug convictions, 86 percent in property damage convictions, and 38 percent in paternity suits.”
And finally, research published in 2024 examined whether there was an association between private schooling and measures of four central civic outcomes: political tolerance, political participation, civic knowledge and skills, and voluntarism and social capital. It’s conclusion? “The evidence is especially strong that private schooling is correlated with higher levels of political tolerance and political knowledge and skills.”
In other words, giving parents more opportunities for their children’s education might just help mend the civic and partisan divide in our nation.
And wouldn’t that be nice?
If only we could get past the one existing now.

Chris Braunlich is past president of the Virginia State Board of Education, and past president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He may be reached at Chris@thomasjeffersoninst.org.