school choice

noun

US : a program or policy in which students are given the choice to use public funds to attend a school other than their district's public school (as at a charter school, private school, home school, or at a public school in a different district)

Voucher plans were adopted largely as a last resort, an effort to guarantee a semblance of school choice for low-income minority students in failing inner-city schools.

—Jeffrey Rosen

To be sure, even their most enthusiastic defenders acknowledge that many public schools, especially in big cities are riven with serious problems. The debate over "school choice" and tax vouchers for private schools illustrates the widespread discontent with public schools.

—Dirk Johnson

Examples of school choice in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Other states — including Indiana, Florida and Arizona — already have school choice programs that allocate funding for school vouchers, charter schools and educational savings accounts. —Hannah Pinski, The Courier-Journal, 15 Oct. 2024

What Rainwater proposes: Universal school choice with no conditions or mandates attached to the funding given to each child. —Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 8 Oct. 2024

So, the premise of the program, school choice, is belied by reality. —Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic, 3 Oct. 2024

Walz’s attack on school choice is not unique to Minnesota and has been expressed elsewhere by teachers union lobbyists and other ESA opponents. —Patrick Gleason, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined above