Michael Horn explains how Educational Savings Accounts differ from vouchers: they give families actual dollars to spend across multiple providers, forcing them to weigh costs and trade-offs. When families see the real price tag, public school stops feeling free, shifting how they think about education choices.
I actually think there's a big difference between vouchers and educational savings accounts. I think the educational savings accounts are a big policy innovation over vouchers because now I have dollars in an account where I am making a series of decisions across multiple providers and I'm making cost-value trade-offs, right? And trade-offs are really important. And then the other piece of that is now I'm a family in Arizona or wherever, you know, name your state, I could go to the quote unquote free public school, but I'm actually losing out on how many thousands of dollars, right? In the education savings account. All of a sudden it doesn't feel free. It feels like a negative when I could be customizing my education for my kid. And so now all of a sudden, quote unquote, it feels pricey. And so
