By Josh Cunningham

Nevada rocked the education world last week when Governor Brian Sandoval signed an under-the-radar bill that is the most expansive school choice program in the nation.

SB 302 allows any student that has been enrolled in public school for 100 days or more to withdraw from the public school system in exchange for a $5,000 education savings account (ESA), which can be used to pay for a customized nonpublic education including a mix of private school, nonpublic online courses, private tutoring and homeschooling.

This bill is more far reaching than any of the 57 private school choice programs existing in 28 states. In other states, private school choice programs are often designed to target subgroups of students, including those from low income households, students attending failing neighborhood schools, foster children, children of military personnel, and students with disabilities.

Similarly, existing private choice programs usually have either a limited pot of money that funds private school scholarships or they cap the number of students that can participate. Nevada’s SB 302, on the other hand, covers all public school students and has no budget or enrollment caps. In theory, every public school student can leave their public schools and accept an ESA.

Private choice enthusiasts see education savings accounts as a marked improvement over traditional school vouchers because they allow for the complete personalization of a student’s education. And since parents can carry over their unused balance to the next year, it is believed they will be motivated to weigh both academic quality and cost of their educational options. This will in turn force education providers, including public schools, to compete with one another on both quality and cost. Students are required to take either the state assessment or an alternative nationally norm-referenced exam annually and report those scores to the state, allowing evaluators to measure the effectiveness of the program. 

A number of questions remain unanswered as Nevada shifts towards implementation, with the first accounts being handed out in January 2016.

It is unknown how many students will be among the first to participate in the ESA program. This makes it difficult on school districts, which are required to forgo the average state per-pupil payment for each resident participating in the ESA program. Likewise, it is unclear how many students currently home-schooled or enrolled in private schools will enroll in public school in order to meet the 100 day requirement. That also can lead to instability within school districts. The program will primarily be administered by the state treasurer’s office, which will have to quickly partner with a financial institution to manage the accounts and develop a system to handle a potentially large onslaught of students requesting ESAs.  

Despite these looming questions, Nevada’s near-universal education savings account program represents the realization of Nobel-winning economist Milton Freidman’s proposed market-based education system that has driven the school choice movement for 60 years.

Qualifying expenses include:

• Private school tuition and textbooks
• Nonpublic online courses
• Private tutoring
• Homeschool curriculum
• Fees for any national norm-referenced achievement exam, advanced placement or similar exam, or college entrance exams
• Special education services for students with disabilities
• Fees for the management of the education savings account
• Transportation costs, up to $750

Josh Cunningham is a senior policy specialist in NCSL's Education program.

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