On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus speaks with Mike McShane about education savings account (ESA) programs. Nat and Mike discuss the sudden growth in ESA programs over the past year, how ESA programs work, the differences between ESAs and vouchers, the pandemic's effects on school choice, whether interest in ESAs solely comes from the right, the difficulty of starting charter schools, single-sex schools, the quality of education surveys, whether ESAs harm public schools in rural districts, the challenges of implementing ESAs, school choice and Catholic schools, how ESAs affect homeschooling, and more.

Mike McShane is the Director of National Research at EdChoice and the author and editor of a number of books on education policy.

Show Notes:

Implementing K–12 Education Savings Accounts

What is an Education Savings Account (ESA)?

The School Choice Movement Needs To Get Boring

AEI's 2024 Summer Honors Program