How All 50 States Rank On School Choice
Florida ranks highest in the nation for its educational freedom and school choice policies, with Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa following closely behind.
This is according to a new report on school choice that the Arlington, Va.-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published last week.
“We are in the midst of an educational renaissance in America. At the time of writing, a record 12 states are empowering (or will soon be empowering) every family and every student with education freedom,” according to report author Andrew Handel, who directs ALEC’s Education and Workforce Development Task Force.
“These states recognize the unique needs of each student and that parents, not government bureaucrats, are best positioned to determine those needs and choose a school that best fits their student.”
The ALEC report analyzes what school choice options are available to families in each of the 50 states, including charter schools, home schools, virtual schools, and open enrollment laws.
The report, titled the 2025 ALEC Index of State Education Freedom, highlights what it says are major school choice reforms in seven states last year:
• Alabama: Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Creating Hope & Opportunity for Our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act. The program creates Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) available to all students in the state starting in 2027.
• Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Georgia Opportunity Scholarship Program into law, which creates an ESA program for students attending the bottom 25% of public schools in the state.
• Louisiana: Gov. Jeff Landry signed the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) program into law. State officials will eventually make this ESA program available to all students in the state, with the exact timeline for universal eligibility still undetermined by the Louisiana Department of Education.
• Missouri: Gov. Mike Parson signed an expansion of the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Account Program into law. Previously, this ESA program was limited to students in the most populated parts of the state who had a household income below 200% of the level for free-and-reduced-price lunches. The legislature voted to expand the program to remove the geographic requirements, permit siblings to use the program, raise the income threshold to 300% of the level for free-and-reduced-price lunches, and increase the funding cap from $50 million to $75 million.
• Oklahoma: Gov. J. Kevin Stitt signed legislation into law that expands the state’s open enrollment program to include interdistrict transfers. The expansion, Handel wrote, makes Oklahoma’s open enrollment law the strongest in the country.
• Utah: The state legislature voted to expand funding for the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program. The program, which is available to all students in the state, saw massive demand amongst families, Handel wrote. As a result, the legislature doubled the funding cap from $40 million to $80 million for the program.
• Wyoming: The state legislature passed a significant ESA program this year, but Gov. Mark Gordon line-item vetoed some of its provisions to reduce eligibility. As a result, this new ESA program is available to students with a household income below 150% of the federal poverty level. The ESA, Handel wrote, is Wyoming’s first education freedom program ever created.
The ALEC report ranks each of the 50 states by a letter grade for education freedom.
The states that earned an A rating: Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, West Virginia, Indiana and Utah.
The states that earned a B rating: Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri and New Hampshire.
The states that earned a C rating: Tennessee, Georgia, Idaho, Colorado, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Nevada, Montana, Texas, South Dakota, Michigan and Kansas.
The states that earned a D rating: Wyoming, Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, California, Delaware, Alaska, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Washington, New Mexico and North Dakota.
The states that earned an F rating: Kentucky, Rhode Island, Oregon, Massachusetts and New York.
Special thanks to Warhammer’s Wife proofreading this story before publication to make certain there were no misspellings, grammatical errors or other embarrassing mistakes and/or typos. Follow Warhammer on Twitter @Real_Warhammer
