Testimony Before the Washington House Committee on Education in Support of
HB 1140
Tim Benson, Senior Policy Analyst
Heartland Impact
February 6, 2025
Chairwoman Santos, Chairman Shavers, and Members of the Committee,
Thank you for holding this hearing on HB 1140, which would establish empowerED scholarships, a much-needed education savings account program prioritizing Washington children who are low-income, have special needs, or are assigned to failing district public schools.
My name is Tim Benson, and I am the senior policy analyst with Heartland Impact. Heartland Impact is the advocacy and outreach arm of The Heartland Institute. Both are independent, national, nonprofit organizations working to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Heartland specializes on providing state lawmakers the policy and advocacy resources to advance free-market policies towards broad-based economic prosperity.
Copious empirical research[i]—literally dozens and dozens of gold-standard random assignment studies—on school choice programs[ii] similar to what would be created with empowerED 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.
Not only are education choice programs like empowerED good policy, they are also broadly popular. Over one million children in 32 different states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are right now making use of some kind of education choice program.
Education choice is also especially popular here in Washington. EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker, last updated on January 6, shows 71 percent of all Washington adults and 80 percent of Washington parents with school-aged children are in favor of ESA programs.[iii] Simply put, support for education choice is firmly in the mainstream of voter opinion across Washington.
Further, an ESA program is sorely needed in the Evergreen State because the state’s public schools are habitually failing Washington’s children. In 2024, only 40 percent[iv] of
Washington’s public school fourth-graders and 30 percent[v] 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 32 percent[vi] of fourth-graders and 31 percent[vii] of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Washington children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math by the time they are about to enter high school.
The goal of public education in Washington 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 more needed than right now.
Thank you for your time.
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.
[i] EdChoice, The 123s of School Choice (2024 Edition), June 27, 2024, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-123s-of-School-Choice.pdf.
[ii] Martin F. Lueken, 2024 Fiscal Effects of School Choice, EdChoice, October 15, 2024, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Fiscal-Effects-2024.pdf.
[iii] EdChoice, Public Opinion Tracker – Washington, January 6, 2025, https://edchoice.morningconsultintelligence.com/reports/washington.pdf.
[iv] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Washington – Grade 4,” accessed February 4, 2025, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219WA4.pdf.
[v] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Washington – Grade 8,” accessed February 4, 2025, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219WA8.pdf.
[vi] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Reading State Snapshot Report – Washington – Grade 4,” accessed February 4, 2025, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220WA4.pdf.
[vii] National Center For Education Statistics, “2024 Reading State Snapshot Report – Washington – Grade 8,” accessed February 4, 2025, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220WA8.pdf.
