What’s Your State’s Education Freedom Grade? Our New Tool Reveals the Truth

True education freedom is when tax dollars follow the student, not the district. Per pupil spending in public schools is increasing yet academic achievement is declining under the weight of far-left teachers’ unions and bad policies. The solution: Let families escape from failing government schools. But where do they flee to?

We launched www.RestoringEdu.com to answer that question. Our latest project is the Restoration of Education, a powerful and growing tool that shines a light on education freedom laws—or lack thereof—in your state, from homeschooling to test scores.

While each state and locality may use different methods of taxation to raid your wallet for public school funding, it’s YOUR hard-earned money. So why do elected officials fight against that money being allocated based upon individual needs? Especially when a third of 8th grade public school students can’t read at a basic level.

It’s not just blue states failing to offer education freedom to families—even many Republicans have historically opposed school choice legislation. Kentucky has no options for children to escape failing public schools unless families have the financial means to pay for private education. Even though the state voted overwhelmingly for President Trump, Kentuckians rejected a ballot initiative that would’ve amended the state constitution to permit education tax dollars to be used for non-public schools. It’s perhaps an indication that people don’t understand the benefits of education freedom.

Fortunately, the tide is changing. Republicans across the nation are awakening to a powerful need to overhaul the way children are educated, with more red states passing laws enabling school choice. In 2023, Iowa enacted the Students First Act that permits state education funding to be available to children enrolled in private school. In March 2025, Wyoming’s Governor signed school choice legislation that will provide $7,000 per child for non-public school costs.

Meanwhile, Democrats spread lies meant to instill fear on the “threat” of greater school choice. Their argument against education freedom is that public schools will suffer if tax dollars are returned to families for purposes of school choice—but that isn’t reality.

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) permit state education tax dollars to be deposited into an account designated for a specific child to use for non-public education alternatives. 44 percent of public education funding comes from local tax dollars which stays with the public schools under an ESA model. So a student choosing an ESA would only get state—not local—tax dollars, and the public school would still get the same amount of local tax dollars even though the student is no longer enrolled. A win-win situation.

The Democrat method of continuing down the same path of pouring more and more money into failing public schools is insanity.

The Misnomer of Universal School Choice

The only way American education will improve is if we fund children, not failing government schools. While many states like Wyoming are heading in the right direction, too few students benefit from existing education choice laws.

The term “universal school choice” is used by the media to describe laws that provide alternatives to public schools. Yet in many states who have adopted these laws, only a small percentage of children are benefitting. For example, Indiana has multiple school choice programs but less than 10 percent of children can participate due to a lack of state funding. It’s disingenuous to declare a state has universal school choice when so few students benefit.

Homeschooling is another example of education freedom. Even though decades of Supreme Court precedent upholds the rights of parents to direct the upbringing and care of their children, many states still intrude on these constitutional rights. Pennsylvania may be the worst offender, requiring intrusive government oversight of homeschooled students. Parents must teach specific required courses and outside evaluations must be approved by district superintendents. The commonwealth even requires evidence of immunizations of homeschooled students unless there is a medical or religious exemption—clear government interference.

Education choice, where every child has an option other than public schools, must be the gold standard to improve academic outcomes for America’s children. Education freedom measures spark competition. Without it public schools have no incentive to improve performance. When students continue to fail, legislators just pump more of your tax dollars into the system without positive results.

That must end.

Restoration News will continue updating our website, RestoringEdu.com, with new information and resources including the latest in education news.