Ahead of key Supreme Court arguments, here's which states have passed school choice measures
A huge majority of states have implemented some form of school choice in recent years, but only a little more than a dozen have adopted programs that make private school choice universally available to K-12 students.
Here is the full list and a timeline of the school choice movement in recent years.
Alabama passed its CHOOSE Act in 2024, which establishes an education savings account (ESA) that will soon be open to all families in the state.
Arizona became the first state to offer universal school choice for all families in 2022, launching an $800 million program that gives parents $7,000 to put toward their children's tuition.
Arkansas's S.B. 294 established choice programs open to all students, regardless of income or disability status.
The accounts allow families to spend state money not just on tuition but also on other approved expenses, such as tutoring, online courses and instructional materials.
Florida's H.B. 1, passed in 2023, established choice programs open to all students, regardless of income or disability status.
The accounts allow families to spend state money not just on tuition but also on other approved expenses, such as tutoring, online courses and instructional materials.
Idaho launched its first private school choice program through a refundable tax credit. Families can receive up to $5,000 per child for private educational expenses, with $7,500 available for students with disabilities. The program is capped at $50 million annually and prioritizes families earning up to 300% of the federal poverty level (about $96,450 for a family of four).
Iowa's H.F. 68, passed in 2023, established choice programs open to all students, regardless of income or disability status.
The accounts allow families to spend state money not just on tuition but also on other approved expenses, such as tutoring, online courses and instructional materials.
The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program grants a voucher to qualifying K-12 students that they can put toward private school tuition.
In order to qualify, students must be residents of Indiana and a member of a household that makes an "annual income of not more than 400% of the amount to qualify for the federal free and reduced price lunch program."
Montana has two major school choice programs, but only one of them is universally available. The more restricted program is a standard ESA, but students must have special needs or have some other form of disability in order to qualify.
The more expansive program is a statewide tax credit scholarship program that "allows individuals and corporations to claim a 100% tax credit for contributions to approved Student Scholarship Organizations," according to EdChoice.
The average scholarship value for participating students is $2,190.
North Carolina has a major voucher program that is available to all students across the state, but is limited by a budget cap.
Qualifying students will get an average voucher value of $5,701 to put toward private school tuition costs, transportation, equipment or other costs associated with attending school.
After baseline qualifications are met, vouchers are granted based on household income.
Ohio's school choice program awards $6,166 for grades K–8 and $8,408 for grades 9-12 to qualifying students.
Students must meet one of a series of qualifications in order to receive the award, and parents must submit their income information.
Like Montana, Oklahoma employs a tax credit system to allow for school choice in the state.
"The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit provides parents of students in private school with a refundable tax credit ranging from a minimum of $5,000 up to a maximum of $7,500 per child to cover the cost of private school tuition and fees, or it provides parents of students in home school a refundable tax credit of $1,000 to cover the cost of unbundled educational expenses," according to EdChoice.
Tennessee passed the Education Freedom Act of 2025, creating a universal ESA program. Families receive $7,000 per student, which must first be used for tuition but can also cover other educational expenses. The program starts with 20,000 scholarships, with half reserved for students from families earning up to 300% of the free and reduced-price lunch threshold and students with disabilities. If at least 75% of scholarships are awarded, the cap will rise to 25,000 students in 2026.
Utah's H.B. 215, passed in 2023, established choice programs open to all students, regardless of income or disability status.
The accounts allow families to spend state money not just on tuition but also on other approved expenses, such as tutoring, online courses and instructional materials.
West Virginia employs an ESA program to allow universal school choice for private schools, and it also has "intra-district and inter-district public school choice via open enrollment," according to EdChoice.
The ESA program grants an average of $4,299 toward private school tuition costs.
Wyoming passed HB 199 in 2025, expanding its ESA program by removing income restrictions and making it fully universal starting in 2025-26. Renamed the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship, the program will provide families with $7,000 and be funded through a $30 million appropriation. Participating students must be assessed on academic progress.
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Newsweek
13 hours ago
- Newsweek
Trump Admin Warns DACA Recipients To Self-Deport
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Miami Herald
19 hours ago
- Miami Herald
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A well-known Venezuelan bakery in Doral has grown from humble beginnings as a food truck, where it sold traditional sweets such as pan dulce, soft bread topped with sugar, and bombas rellenas , cream-filled puffs. The truck traveled across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, often stopping in cities with large Venezuelan communities, including Pembroke Pines and Weston—the latter nicknamed 'Westonzuela' for being one of the earliest hubs of Venezuelan settlement more than two decades ago. Today, the owner has expanded into a brick-and-mortar location in Doral. A TPS holder, he lives in the U.S. with his family. Before obtaining deportation protections in 2021, they had tried to apply for an investor visa. The Doral bakery owner is among the 12% of Venezuelans with TPS who are self-employed, contributing to the U.S. economy through small businesses, independent contracting and entrepreneurship, according to data from Clemens. Like thousands Venezuelans in the U.S., the Doral bakery owner has a pending asylum case, filed in 2018. After years waiting for an asylum interview, TPS provided his family with much-needed stability that is now slipping away. Despite the uncertainty, he keeps running his bakery and dreams of opening a second location in Weston. But he fears being forced to leave the U.S.. 'The promise of stability is disappearing,' he said. 'And with it, the American dream.' Returning to Venezuela is not an option for him. 'The country I left no longer exists,' he says, citing violent crime, the country's humanitarian crisis and political persecution. He fears for his family's safety as well as losing their livelihood. Their TPS protection could expire as early as September if a federal district court does not rule to extend deportation protections. Litigation is still ongoing in several federal courts, because the Supreme Court ruling did not address the actual merits of a lawsuit challenging the administration's revocation policy. The fear is spreading through government offices too. In Doral, Mayor Christi Fraga said the city has already had to terminate a Venezuelan employee in code enforcement whose work permit expired after the Supreme Court ruling. Several more city employees could face the same fate in September. Fraga, a Cuban-American Republican, warned of broader fallout: 'We'll likely see properties flood the market, driving down prices. Businesses may struggle to find workers or shut down. There's a real risk of people working illegally or ending up homeless.' About 40% of Doral's residents are of Venezuelan origin. Roughly 10,000 are now U.S. citizens, a third of the city's electorate, but many of their friends and relatives face growing legal uncertainty. 'This city's success is largely due to Venezuelan investment,' Fraga said. 'It mirrors what happened with Cuban immigrants in Miami.' City Council Member Rafael Pineyro, the only currently Venezuelan-born elected official in Doral, echoed the mayor's concerns. 'This has a knock-on effect that will impact not just Doral, but all of Miami-Dade,' he said. 'Business owners might be forced to sell their homes and businesses — everything they legally built while contributing to this community.' A Republican, Pineyro criticized the Trump administration's decision to end TPS for Venezuela, saying it was based on a mistaken assessment that conditions there had improved. 'Venezuela hasn't improved — it has regressed,' he said. 'The regime is more oppressive than ever.' As TPS protections unravel, thousands of Venezuelans in Florida and across the country face difficult choices: stay and risk being deported, try to find another legal path, or flee again. More than 66% of Venezuelans in the U.S.—a community now exceeding 903,000 people—were protected under TPS. Despite their growing numbers, Venezuelans remain among the least likely immigrant groups to be naturalized U.S. citizens. According to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, one key reason is that most Venezuelans are recent arrivals: 74% have come to the U.S. since 2010, compared to 35% of all immigrants. 'Venezuelans, like other immigrants, sit at the dinner table with American family members, and a significant number have U.S. citizen children,' Clemens said. 'That's why making life precarious for Venezuelans, and the potential removal of over 600,000 people, isn't just about disrupting immigrant lives. It risks a chilling effect that will reach into every corner of American society.'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Florida set to execute man for killing wife, 2 kids in new state death sentence record for 1 year
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28. A death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis directs that 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Zakrzewski's final appeal for a stay was rejected Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest previous annual total of recent Florida executions is eight in 2014, since the death penalty was restored in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Zakrzewski, an Air Force veteran, was sentenced to die for the 1994 slayings of his 34-year-old wife, Sylvia, and their children Edward, 7, and 5-year-old Anna, at their home in Okaloosa County in the Panhandle. Trial testimony showed he committed the killings after his wife sought a divorce, and he had told others he would kill his family rather than allow that. Sylvia was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope, testimony shows. Both children were killed with the machete, and Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault. Opponents of the execution point to Zakrzewski's military service and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend his execution, barely a majority of the panel. He could not be executed with such a split jury vote under current state law. The trial judge imposed three death sentences on Zakrzewski. The Action Network, which organized an anti-execution petition, asked people to call DeSantis' office and read a prepared script urging a stay of execution for Zakrzewski. 'Florida does not need the death penalty to be safe. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic story. Justice does not require death,' the script reads in part. Zakrzewski's lawyers have filed numerous appeals over the years, all of which have been rejected. Twenty-six men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and 11 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Florida was also the last state to execute someone, when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15. DeSantis also signed a warrant for the 10th execution this year for Kayle Bates, who abducted a woman from an insurance office and killed her more than four decades ago. Wednesday night, DeSantis issued a death warrant for Curtis Windom, 59, convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. His execution is scheduled for Aug. 28.
