A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives details how students making use of Pennsylvania’s two education-choice programs, the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (OSTC) and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC), are outperforming their public-school peers in educational attainment and academic proficiency.
EITC and OSTC, both tax-credit scholarship programs, were launched in 2001 and 2012, respectively, and combined were providing scholarships for over 77,000 students for the 2021–22 school year, the last year for which data is available, with an average scholarship award of $2,218. EITC is open to students from low- and middle-income families, while OSTC is open to students attending a “low achieving” public school in the bottom 15 percent of standardized test scores.
According to the report, “most families receiving tax credit scholarships earn below the median income level for their respective counties, and the counties with the most low-achieving public schools have the highest number of scholarship recipients. The average household income for EITC and OSTC scholarship recipients across the state ranges from $41,463 and $73,100 annually.”
Still, the report finds that EITC and OSTC students are outperforming their peers in public school on standardized tests and also graduate high school and matriculate to college at higher rates.
Pennsylvania’s public schools are habitually failing the commonwealth’s children. In 2022, only 40 percent of public school fourth-graders and 27 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” to grade level in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 34 percent of fourth-graders and 31 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Pennsylvania children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math.
Meanwhile, copious empirical research on school choice programs such as EITC and OSTC makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances, and that these programs improve academic performance and attainment and deliver a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools.
To cite just one example, a 2021 report by EdChoice found EITC and OSTC have saved Pennsylvania taxpayers between $4.1 billion and $8.1 billion through Fiscal Year 2018. This works out to a savings of between $6,364 and $12,499 per each student participating in the programs.
Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices. Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats. There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.
It is probably for these reasons, and also because teacher unions have repeatedly played politics with school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic in direct conflict with students’ best interests, that education choice programs are more popular with parents than ever before. Polling done in September 2024 for EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker finds 68 percent support for a universal education savings account (ESA) program among Pennsylvania adults, and 75 percent for commonwealth school parents.
Based of what we know of the outcomes for students taking part in EITC and OSTC, as well as the empirical evidence from other education choice programs in other states, Pennsylvania legislators should look to universalize school choice in the Keystone State, whether by combining these two programs together and expanding them, or through an ESA program. At the very least, legislators should look to increase the budget caps on EITC and OSTC so that more families can make use of these programs.
The goal of public education today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. There has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and needed than right now.
Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377-4000.
