Nevada has passed a law that pays parents for taking their children out of public schools. For each child who is removed from school, after being enrolled for at least 100 days, an Educational Savings Account will be established with $5,000 that can be used for any private school including religious schools, home schooling, tutoring and therapy. Any unused funds can be rolled over and applied to college costs. The $5,000 is approximately 80% of what it costs the state to educate a child without special needs. For those students who need special services they will receive 100% of what the state pays to educate a student. Low income students will also receive 100% of the costs.
Nevada is the 5th state to institute Education Savings Accounts, after Arizona, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee, but Nevada is the first state to make the accounts universally available to all students.
School Choice advocates are very excited about this new law in Nevada,
“This is what the future of education should look like for students all over the U.S.,” said Jonathan Butcher, the education policy director at the Goldwater Institute.
“Nevada now becomes a leader of that movement,” the CEO of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Patricia Levesque, said in another press release.
This idea could solve a lot of problems in Virginia, particularly in counties like Loudoun where the schools are very overcrowded. There isn’t even room in Loudoun schools for all day kindergarten. This program would save the state money, give students and parents a real choice in their education, and free up much needed space in our schools.
Much more information on Nevada’s school choice program here.
