Report Provides Useful but Incomplete Portrait of Universal Vouchers

BOULDER, CO (September 30, 2025)—In recent years, at least a dozen states have created private school choice (aka voucher) programs that are universal—placing few or no restrictions on wealth or other factors that might limit which families can participate. A FutureEd report examines the expansion of such programs, and provides a generally useful, up-to-date compilation of basic facts and trends around universal voucher programs in 10 states.

Indiana University professor and Director of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Christopher Lubienski reviewed Directional Signals: A New Analysis of the Evolving Private School Choice Landscape. While noting the report’s disregard for relevant existing research, Professor Lubienski nonetheless found it useful for its clear, up-to-date descriptive data.

Lubienski cautions that the report forgoes important questions such as the value of choice in democratic systems, the impact on equity and segregation, or the necessity of requiring taxpayers to fund the religious choices of some families. Instead, it poses questions on several immediate, empirical issues, such as the following: (a) which students and schools participate, (b) students’ prior enrollment, (c) retention/satisfaction, (d) student performance, (e) finance, and (f) the impact on public schools. It concludes with the question of how universal programs can navigate academic issues, social goals and taxpayer concerns.

At times, the report veers into the realm of implicit policy recommendations, and on rarer occasions it makes recommendations not tied to the evidence, Lubienski notes.

Nevertheless, Professor Lubienski finds the report to be a generally valuable resource, compiling recent data on universal choice programs across these states and occasionally posing provocative questions for policymakers.

Find the review, by Christopher Lubienski, at:
https://nepc.colorado.edu/review/universal-choice

Find Directional Signals: A New Analysis of the Evolving Private School Choice Landscape, written by Bella DiMarco and published by FutureEd, at:
https://www.future-ed.org/directional-signals-a-new-analysis-of-the-evolving-private-school-choice-landscape/

 

NEPC Reviews (https://nepc.colorado.edu/reviews) provide the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. NEPC Reviews are made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: http://www.greatlakescenter.org

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third-party reviews of think tank reports. NEPC publications are written in accessible language and are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policymakers, the media, and the general public. Our mission is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence and support a multiracial society that is inclusive, kind, and just. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu

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