Matthew Ladner, Children First America, July 2001
In partnership with the Children's Scholarship Fund, school choice giant Children First America (CFA) has issued the fifth edition of a report surveying the growth and status of America's privately funded voucher programs (PVPs). What began as a single program serving fewer than 750 kids in Indianapolis in 1991, has grown to more than 100 PVPs today that reach over 100,000 students - the overwhelming majority of them urban, low-income minorities. The report summarizes the results of CFA's survey of PVPs, which found that the average dollar amounts awarded are up and applications are way up, with the ratio of applicants to voucher recipients at approximately 5 to 1. Also provided are a brief description of how scholarship-supporting Student Tuition Organizations (STOs) have flourished in Arizona as a result of the state's education tax credit, an overview of the body of rigorous research that supports school choice, and an analysis of the impact of the CEO Horizon Program - the nation's largest PVP, and the only one devoted to an entire school district - on San Antonio's Edgewood School District. For more, including an extensive state-by-state appendix of PVP contact information, see http://childrenfirstamerica.org/JDI5.pdf. Or order a hard copy from Children First America, P.O. Box 330, Bentonville, AR 72712; phone 501-273-6957; fax 501-273-9362.
