Educational Freedom: A Path to Innovation and Excellence

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Research published with Jenny Clark at Club for Growth Foundation. 

America’s kindergarten through 12th grade (K–12) public education system is failing too many students, despite the fact that more taxpayer money is currently being spent on it than ever before.

Public schools operate as a government-controlled monopoly, leaving families with limited options for their children’s education and with limited ways to hold school officials accountable for poor outcomes. Nationwide, student achievement remains stagnant. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals declining proficiency rates in key subjects like math and reading, even as states spend billions of dollars on public education each year. In many cases, administrative costs are growing faster than teacher salaries, diverting resources away from the classroom and into bloated bureaucracies.

For example, from the 2024 results of The Nation’s Report Card, we see a nation with students in crisis. Reading scores are down nationally for students in both the fourth and eighth grades, and no state saw reading gains in either grade level compared to 2022. The 2024 NAEP results indicate that less than a third of all American students nationwide are reading at the NAEP Proficient level. Around 40 percent of fourth graders are working below the NAEP Basic level in reading. Furthermore, 33 percent of eighth graders are not even reading at the NAEP Basic level—meaning that roughly a third of eighth graders would most likely be unable to identify basic literary elements in a text.1 In short, American students are not equipped to be successfully functioning citizens if the majority are unable to read proficiently by the eighth grade. A functionally illiterate society threatens American freedoms such as free speech, religious freedom, and our representative form of government. It also undermines our nation’s important role in the world. Most concerning is that illiteracy weakens the ability of individuals to thrive independently of the government.

Educational freedom, rooted in free market principles, offers a proven solution. By allowing families to direct education funding toward the best learning environment for their children—whether that be a public, charter, private, homeschool, or hybrid model—competition is introduced, forcing schools to innovate, become more efficient, and prioritize student success. Universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), tax-credit scholarships, open enrollment policies, and deregulation can break the cycle of underperformance and wasted spending, empowering both parents and teachers to effect educational change.

This handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of educational freedom in America and the free market principles that drive its success. Section 1 examines the failures of the current system and highlights how competition and choice can revolutionize K–12 education. Section 2 breaks down the government school monopoly, exposing its inefficiencies and the lack of incentives for improvement. Section 3 outlines actionable policy recommendations, including the implementation of ESAs, the expansion of charter and magnet schools, and regulatory reform to encourage educational entrepreneurship.
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By learning from successful states like Arizona and Florida—where school choice policies have led to better student outcomes at a lower cost—legislators and the public will be more willing to embrace reforms that will give every child access to a high-quality education tailored to their unique needs. The path forward is clear: Empower families, introduce competition, and let education dollars follow student needs, not systems.

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