The Sconi

Amid growing dissatisfaction with traditional public schooling systems, eleven states have now adopted universal school choice measures since Wisconsin missed several opportunities in 2022 due to Governor Tony Evers' opposition, according to a national school choice advocate.

Corey DeAngelis,  a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, highlights the education upheaval in his book “The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools.”

“Before 2021, there were zero states with universal school choice. So in the past three years alone, we've had more momentum on the school choice front than in the preceding three decades,” DeAngelis said. 

He offered a critical examination of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers' impact on the school choice landscape in the state. 

“Wisconsin could have been one of the first initial states with universal school choice. The main barrier has been Tony Evers,” said DeAngelis, who is also a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children.  

DeAngelis has posted repeatedly on X about Evers' consistent stance against allowing more freedom for parents to navigate the state's education system. 

“Before 2021, there were zero states with universal school choice. So in the past three years alone, we've had more momentum on the school choice front than in the preceding three decades,” DeAngelis said. 

In 2022 alone, Evers vetoed several bills including a "School Choice for All" proposal, aimed at expanding educational options for families across the state, and a Parental Bill of Rights, which sought to empower parents in decisions regarding their children's education. 

Additionally, Evers rejected measures that would grow the state's charter school network and increase curriculum and classroom transparency, drawing ire from proponents of educational reform.

DeAngelis said that as more state lawmakers allow families the opportunity to direct their children's education according to their values and preferences, the traditional monopoly of public schooling faces unprecedented challenge and scrutiny.

“That is Milton Friedman's vision coming to fruition right before our very eyes,” said DeAngelis.  

Friedman, the 1976 Economics Nobel Prize winner who taught at the University of Chicago for three decades, was a proponent of school choice, detailing it in his writings and his 1980 TV series “Free To Choose.”

“It is hard to overstate how much winning we've been doing on the issue,” said DeAngelis. “It's partially because parents have kind of banded together as an interest group of their own, more of a general interest than a special interest, because they're fighting for their own kids, but they've held politicians accountable.”