Financial Crisis Not Wasted: Shift in State Power and Voucher Expansion

School choice advocates have long opposed what they perceive as the hegemony the public sector has on the education enterprise primarily because it contravenes free-market principles. They fervently believe that competition will compel all schools to improve and become more efficient if they must adapt to remain open. Voucher opponents argue that state governments should focus on the improvement of existing public schools and that large-scale attempts to privatize education are designed to destroy the public-education enterprise. Prior to 2011, the judiciary played a large role in determining the viability of a voucher program moving forward. Once the U.S. Supreme Court removed constitutional barriers to vouchers, lawmakers in several states used the recent economic downturn, a public call for increased fiscal responsibility, and a historical shift in political power during the 2010 midterm elections to advocate an expansion of vouchers and other alternatives to traditional public schools. This article chronicles the expansion of education choice—particularly voucher programs—by newly elected state legislatures in 2011 and captures the program’s departure from social justice to what appears to be pure political ideology.