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This report summarizes the fiscal effects of education choice programs across the United States from an analysis of 48 private education choice programs in 25 states plus D.C. The programs in the analysis include five education savings account programs, 22 school voucher programs, and 21 tax credit scholarship programs. This study estimates the combined net fiscal effects of each education choice program on state and local taxpayers through fiscal year (FY) 2022--in both the short run and the long run. It uses short-run and long-run variable cost estimates to generate lower bounds and upper bounds of the fiscal effects of education choice program on taxpayers through FY 2022. This report does not include any universal education choice programs in the main analysis because it uses federal data that were available for years before any universal programs launched. The report also provides context by presenting information about the size and scope of each program, in terms of participation and funding, relative to each state's public school system and state budgets. It presents information on taxpayer funding disparities between students using the choice programs and their peers in public schools.

School choice critics argue that choice programs drain resources from public schools and therefore harm students who remain in them. Because policymakers are tasked with balancing their states' budgets and ensuring that their public schools meet educational provisions in their states' constitutions, they are concerned with the fiscal effects of these programs. More than two dozen studies have examined educational choice programs' effects on students enrolling in nearby public schools. Researchers have conducted a handful of systematic reviews of competitive effects research and, more recently, a meta-analysis of this body of research. In each of these reviews, researchers conclude that students who remain in district schools after exposure to educational choice programs tend to experience modest educational benefits. But the question remains whether educational choice programs lead to higher costs for taxpayers or fewer resources for students who remain in public schools. This report summarizes the fiscal effects of educational choice programs across the United States from an analysis of 40 private educational choice programs in 19 states plus D.C. The programs in the analysis include three education savings accounts programs, 19 school voucher programs, and 18 tax-credit scholarship programs. The report also provides context by presenting basic facts about the size and scope of each program, in terms of participation and funding, relative to each state's public school system. It presents the facts on taxpayer funding disparities between students using the choice programs and their peers in public schools.

Education savings accounts (ESAs) are education funding mechanisms that allow for families to receive a deposit of public funds to a government-authorized savings account. Using student-level longitudinal data, this paper examines how families participating in the Florida Gardiner Scholarship Program use education savings account funds. Results indicate that families use an increasing proportion of ESA funds when students remain in the program. The longer students remain in the program, the share of ESA funds devoted to private school tuition decreases while expenditure shares increase for curriculum, instruction, tutoring, and specialized services. Students in rural areas not only use a greater portion of their ESA funds than families in urban and suburban areas, but they also spend smaller portions of their funds on tuition and appear to customize more.

This report follows up on previous work that examined the fiscal effects of private school voucher programs. It estimates the total fiscal effects of tax-credit scholarship programs--another type of private school choice program--on state governments, state and local taxpayers, and school districts combined. Based on a range of assumptions, these programs generated between $1.7 billion and $3.4 billion in taxpayer savings through the 2013-14 school year. That is equivalent to up to $3,000 per scholarship student. In general, tax-credit scholarships allow taxpayers to receive full or partial tax credits when they donate to nonprofits that provide students with private school scholarships. Eligible taxpayers can include both individuals and businesses. Some supporters of tax-credit scholarships argue that they give taxpayers more freedom than vouchers to support the types of education that align with their values and preferences. Vouchers, on the other hand, "compel taxpayers to financially support forms of education to which they may object." For the period covered in this analysis, there were 21 tax-credit scholarship programs operating in 17 states. Of those, the author added 10 (covering seven states) in this report. All but two of the programs analyzed are the largest in the country. In total, the 10 programs that were analyzed represent 93 percent of all scholarships awarded in tax-credit scholarship programs today. Programs analyzed in this report are: (1) Arizona Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program; (2) Arizona Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program; (3) Arizona Lexie's Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program; (4) Arizona "Switcher" Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program; (5) Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program; (6) Georgia Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit; (7) Indiana School Scholarship Tax Credit; (8) Iowa School Tuition Organization Tax Credit; (9) Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program; and (10) Rhode Island Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Organizations. There are certain challenges and considerations that generally apply to evaluating the fiscal impact of any school choice program. Two key factors that apply to all programs: (1) variable costs per student, meaning those costs that are directly associated with a given student and that would not be spent if that student were not enrolled; and (2) the number of students who would have attended public schools without the financial assistance from the tax-credit scholarship program (aka "switchers"). In some states, there is also a third factor: (3) the proportion of scholarships that are given to students who receive more than one scholarship. Appended are: (1) Scholarships Awarded in Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs; (2) Surveying Scholarship Organizations; (3) Considerations and Complicating Factors; and (4) Tax-Credit Scholarship Program Tax Credit Caps.