Public education looks different from what it once did 50 years ago. Or 25 years ago. Or even six years ago.
Back then, just before the pandemic, Janine Yass and her husband, Jeff, prominent billionaire philanthropists who support school choice programs, were donating seed money to educators experimenting with different types of learning for students.
They were looking for programs that differed from the status quo, just as their Boys Latin of Philadelphia Charter School did when it opened in 2007. Twenty years later, the institution enrolls 800 students from sixth to 12th grade in a college preparatory curriculum. Nine out of 10 students graduate from high school, three-quarters of students are economically disadvantaged, and more than one-third receive special education services.
In the School District of Philadelphia, where most of their students come from, only three out of 10 are grade-level proficient in math and reading. Public education lobbyists and the lawmakers they bankroll say the hollowing out of neighborhood schools happened because state funding lagged the true cost of education. Students walk under asbestos-insulated ceilings, water fountains can be too polluted to use, and bathrooms lack toilet paper.
Enrollment at district schools has fallen 13% over the last decade and could decline another 10% by 2035. Meanwhile, alternative choices – charter schools, both in the city and online, as well as private options – have grown in popularity among families seeking a customized curriculum, spiking 191%. Whether it’s college-level preparatory, life skills for children with disabilities, or art and music programs, the offerings have cannibalized roughly one-quarter of the city’s student population.
But, Yass said, the movement of children out of public schools, where math and reading proficiency had also cratered in many parts of the country, was accelerating faster outside Pennsylvania than inside. State regulation limited the number of charter schools that could operate, and districts had to agree to their contracts. It was often an expensive and fruitless endeavor, Yass said.
Over time, her focus shifted outward.
“We started taking our efforts to other cities,” she told The Center Square. “Not intentionally. Just really because it was easier and there are plenty of underserved children in states that we would be welcome to.”
And then the pandemic happened. Yass’ “ad-hoc” approach to school choice philanthropy was soon overwhelmed by requests from programs across the nation needing support for an influx of students.
And so, the Yass Prize was born: an annual contest that awards grants of up to $1 million to applicants across the country. Earlier this month, the foundation awarded $6 million to recipients, including $1 million each to The Learning Lounge in Pine Bluff, Ark., and the Salt & Light Academy in Philadelphia. Two other Pennsylvania schools, Cooking4Autism and Girard College, won $50,000 each.
Since 2021, 285 schools serving 14 million students have collected a total of $84 million.
Arizona Autism Charter Schools has expanded into seven campuses since it won $1 million in 2022. Its founder, Diana Diaz-Harrison, went on to serve as deputy assistant secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education.
Supporters of school choice believe that these programs will place more power in the parents to utilize funds that are directly catered to their children’s educational needs with the goal of increasing student achievement.
The average cost of a school choice scholarship is roughly $6,000 per student, compared with about $18,000 in average public-school spending, according to EdChoice. The Trump administration’s federal school choice tax credit program, of which 31 states have opted into, would allow individuals and married couples to contribute up to $3,400 to scholarship organizations to cover tuition and other educational expenses costs for students.
In a recent interview with The Center Square, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said “it’s not a partisan issue.”
“It is a real opportunity to further empower parents in finding the best education for their children,” he said. ” Who doesn’t believe that parents should have that chance.”
So far, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has not signed onto the program, even as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul gave her final approval earlier this month. He said on the Oct. 7 debate stage that he hadn’t closed the door on the program and would be making an announcement about it “soon.”
Treasury officials and the Internal Revenue Service estimate the program could support nearly 700 organizations and generate $26 billion in annual contributions from more than 11 million taxpayers by 2030.
Darla Romfo, president and CEO of Children’s Scholarship Fund, an organization participating in the tax credit program, said taxpayers who donate can direct their support toward scholarships for students.
Romfo said states that do not participate could see tax credit donations benefit students from other states.
“All this money was raised from taxpayers in your state, and it got spent on kids all over the rest of the country and not on your kids, because you didn’t opt in,” Romfo told The Center Square. “And it wouldn’t have cost you anything to opt in, wouldn’t have taken $1 away from a public school. It would just simply help the kids in your state. And that was money that left your state and could have helped your kids.”
“Shame on them, because it costs them nothing,” Romfo said of states that have declined to participate.
Jorge Elorza, CEO of Democrats for Education Reform and advocate for school choice, told The Center Square that Democrats have fallen behind both politically and policy-wise on K-12 education.
“Voters are watching. They see that we have been silent on this issue,” Elorza said. “Now there is a political imperative for us to reprioritize and refocus on K-12 education. And it can’t be more of the same. It can’t just be more money to be more of the same. That is not working.”
Esther Wickham contributed to this report.
