This piece was originally published in reimaginED.
In 2023, Iowa and Utah have already enacted new education savings account programs that will help thousands of families take control of their children’s education. These states follow Arizona and West Virginia in enacting broadly available ESA programs in recent years.
There’s more to come. According to EdChoice, lawmakers in more than 20 states are considering similar measures to give parents greater power to choose in education. There’s good reason to be optimistic that many more parents across the country will have new options in the coming years.
But as advocates know, establishing these promising programs is just the first step. For students to benefit, parents need to learn about their new options and use them. In the past, the work of educating parents about new school choice options and helping them take advantage of their options has fallen to community groups, grassroots leaders, and parent activists.
