As 2023 comes to a close and we head toward 2024, thoughts are turning toward another election season.
In all likelihood, most normal legislators in Minnesota would like their constituents to re-elect them. For those who fall into this camp, I’ll let you in on a little secret: There’s an issue that has widespread support from voters, parents in particular. That issue is Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
According to EdChoice, ESAs are “a government-authorized savings account with restricted, but multiple uses for educational purposes.” Just as a Health Savings Account enables users to set aside a monetary fund to use for health care costs, so an Education Savings Account puts education dollars in the hands of parents to use at a public, private, micro, or home school. An ESA allows money to follow the student around so that each child can get the education that best fits his needs.
Sounds like a brilliant idea, doesn’t it?
If you don’t agree, I’ve got some unfortunate news for you: you’re in a very small minority. According to the most recent polling, 77% of American parents support ESAs. That means that almost 4 out of every 5 parents want ESAs.
What’s even more interesting is that ESAs seem to have bipartisan and widespread demographic support. “Looking at the support for ESAs among demographic groups consistently produces unexpected results as well,” EdChoice reported. “For example, in November, liberal respondents supported ESAs at a higher rate than conservative respondents. In May, roughly two-thirds of both Gen Z and Baby Boomer respondents supported ESAs.”
Legislators, do you want an issue to grab on to that will win you some surefire support among your constituents? Then choose school choice and ESAs. Because it doesn’t look like support for them is going away anytime soon.
—
Image Credit: Flickr-Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0
