Dr. Matthew Ladner: What Can Arizona Teach Mississippi About Empowering Parents?

Dr. Matthew Ladner: What Can Arizona Teach Mississippi about empowering parents?

In this episode, Dr. Matthew Ladner, Senior Advisor at the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, shares about Arizona’s journey with school choice. Arizona passed the first education savings account (ESA) program in the nation in 2011 for students with special needs, expanding it multiple times over the years, and in 2022 made it a universal eligibility program, so it’s now open to every student in the state and 70,000 students participate. In 1994, a full 19 years before Mississippi, Arizona passed a robust charter school law and today 22 percent of the student population are enrolled in a charter school. Additionally, Arizona has a strong open enrollment program so that students can choose any public school they want to attend even if that school is in a neighboring town or school district. All these options for parents have made Arizona an education destination for families. Tune in to see what Mississippi leaders can learn from The Grand Canyon State.