Definition and framing
On the episode “Students, Not Systems,” host Bob Zadek introduced school choice as an unresolved public policy issue dividing “public schools, aka government schools” from “private, i.e., market-based schools, charter schools, private schools.” He dated the issue’s prominence to the early 1990s, when, he said, Milwaukee in Wisconsin first initiated a voucher program, after which the voucher school movement grew. Zadek tied renewed attention to the pandemic, during which public schools locked down and banned classroom education while private schools were more able to cope and still hold classroom learning. Students, Not Systems (2022)
Guest Corey DeAngelis, described by Zadek as an adjunct scholar at Cato for the Center of Educational Freedom and author of School Choice Myths, defined school choice as “funding the student instead of the institution.” He argued that government-run schools are not public in any meaningful sense because they discriminate based on zip code and are not open to the public like a public park; he noted that Milton Friedman also used the term government schools. Under the existing arrangement, he said, the institution is funded regardless of how well it meets families’ needs and regardless of whether the family chooses it. Students, Not Systems (2022)
The mechanism: vouchers and ESAs
DeAngelis described the basic voucher mechanism: a child’s education dollars currently go to a residentially assigned government-run school, and under a choice program that same funding follows the child to whatever the family chooses. The residentially assigned school remains an option, in which case nothing changes. To make programs politically feasible, he said, they build in taxpayer savings by setting the amount at roughly 80 percent of what would have been spent in the traditional public school system, sometimes as little as 50 percent, so that public schools, taxpayers and families all benefit financially. Students, Not Systems (2022)
Education Savings Accounts differ from vouchers, he explained, in that the money goes to an account the family operates and can be used not only for private school tuition and fees but also for special needs therapies, online learning, homeschool expenses, microschools, unschooling and pandemic pods. He said regulations require government-approved education expenditures, so the money cannot be spent on groceries or a big-screen TV, and fraud carries legal consequences. A third, privately funded route is the tax-credit scholarship: donors give to a scholarship-granting organization, families draw on those private dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses, and donors receive a tax benefit. Such programs tend to be less regulated because private funds are less likely to be regulated by government. Students, Not Systems (2022)
The defunding argument and the union interest
DeAngelis identified the teachers unions as the main opponents of school choice, describing an entrenched special interest that profits from the existing system and fights funding-follows-the-child because it would end the geographic monopoly created by residential assignment, meaning less union dues and less political power for union bosses. He said opponents repeat myths even though evidence and basic logic refute them. Students, Not Systems (2022)
The central myth, he said, is that school choice defunds public schools. His first response was that school choice does not defund public schools; public schools defund families, and choice initiatives merely reallocate dollars to their rightful owners, the families. The money, he argued, belongs to no institution—not private schools, not charter schools, not government schools—and he compared the claim to saying that letting people choose a grocery store defunds Walmart. His second response was that the same people who call public schools great also say choice would defund them, which he treated as an admission that families would leave when given the option; he cited surveys in which about half of parents in traditional public schools say they would choose something else, either homeschooling or private schooling. Students, Not Systems (2022)
His third response was mathematical. Schools are funded based on student enrollment counts but not completely so, because block grants also flow into the traditional public school system. Georgetown University, he said, estimated that in most states about 60 to 80 percent of funding is based on enrollment, so when a student leaves through a voucher program the traditional public school keeps 20 to 40 percent of the funding for a student no longer there—meaning more money per pupil. He extended the grocery analogy: Safeway would be happy to keep 20 percent of a departing customer’s grocery bill. Students, Not Systems (2022)
Analogies to other programs
DeAngelis argued that funding students directly is how other taxpayer-funded initiatives already work. Pell grants go to the student, who may choose a public or community college or a private or religious university; the GI Bill works the same way for veterans; and pre-K programs such as Head Start or state-funded pre-K give funding to families rather than residentially assigning them to providers. Food stamps likewise let families choose Walmart, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s rather than a residentially assigned government-run grocery store. He asked why people who support funding the child for pre-K and higher education oppose vouchers for K-12, and answered that the power dynamics differ: in pre-K, groceries and higher education choice is already the norm, while K-12 has an entrenched special interest. Students, Not Systems (2022)
Zadek added two examples of his own. Under the VA system, he said, veterans are told they can get healthcare only through the monopoly system called the VA and cannot get private healthcare, which drew an enormous hue and cry that veterans should be allowed to spend the benefit in the private sector. Under Medicaid, by contrast, the patient is given the benefit and may pick any doctor who accepts that compensation; under Section 8 housing, the tenant is given a voucher and may pick the apartment or home. Zadek concluded that school choice is therefore not a radical system but one Americans have long accepted in other areas. Students, Not Systems (2022)
DeAngelis added a caveat for libertarian listeners: using analogies like Pell grants and food stamps does not mean he endorses programs like Medicaid and Social Security; his point is only that if money is allocated away from the taxpayer for such programs, it should go to the person rather than the institution. He noted that in K-12 the reallocation actually reduces government size by moving dollars from government institutions to individuals who can use them in the private sector, and that voucher programs tend to be a lower percentage of what is already spent in the traditional public school system. Students, Not Systems (2022)
Across episodes
Only one episode in the excerpts, “Students, Not Systems,” treats school choice, so the excerpts show no development between an earlier and later treatment.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state the outcome of any school choice program, nor any court case, statute or amendment bearing on the issue. They do not give the founding date of the Milwaukee program beyond Zadek’s recollection of the early 1990s, and they do not identify the jurisdictions that have adopted vouchers, ESAs or tax-credit scholarships. The final excerpt breaks off mid-sentence while DeAngelis is describing tax-credit scholarships, so his remaining points are not available.