The nation continues to watch as Texas lawmakers carry on a grueling fight over education choice. Several states created education savings accounts this year, and people wonder if Texas will join as an early adopter in the nation’s shift toward education choice. 

Education choice is important public policy because it recognizes pluralism in several ways: that students deserve education fitted to their academic needs and that families want education fitted to their values, all of which can be very diverse.  

At the recent FREE forum, hosted by Sutherland Institute and AEI, during a panel on the role of religion in society, Kathleen Porter-Magee explained that “there is no such thing as a values-neutral school.” As the superintendent of Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx, she says her schools openly embrace their unique religious values, and many nonreligious families choose these schools over others for that specific reason. This means religious and nonreligious people alike benefit from education choices that are diverse in their missions and approaches.  

Because education choice acknowledges pluralism, it also bolsters principles like freedom of speech and religious liberty. America includes – and by design, protects – a diverse group of people who have different backgrounds, beliefs, religious traditions, values, political opinions and more. Public policies should promote these protections.  

When asked about public policies that could give space for religious schools and others to do their work, Porter-Magee said:  

Free speech is really important and gets to the, I think, importance of religious liberty. … There is tremendous work we can do on the policy side, on the education policy side. If we see faith- based schools as critical components of faith-based institutions, and churches more broadly, then I think education policy is really mission-critical to that work. 

Of course, she’s right. Religious schools are part of a church’s mission. But the freedom to choose a religious school or not is part of the American mission to protect religious freedom. 

Porter-Magee mentioned one of the best ways to help support specifically Catholic schools and faith-based schools is allowing “tax credits and publicly funded scholarships to flow not just to public charter schools and traditional public schools but also to private institutions.” In many states, this issue has been at the heart of controversies regarding school choice: Will education choice programs send taxpayer dollars to religious schools? But – from the standpoint of recognizing pluralism in our society – this is a natural thing to do, if that is what a student needs, as determined by their parents. 

Having the choice to educate your children as you see fit is in some ways an extension of freedom of speech and religious liberty. Whatever a person believes about values, ethics and religion, they would naturally want to speak freely about that to their children during their education and/or would want their educators to be allowed to do so as well. But the traditional public system cannot cover every ideology, belief system or preference. The need to decide which topics public schools will delve into is one reason why public education policy can be so contentious. 

Consider public policy debates about how the traditional public system should be run. Everyone wants education to reflect their values (religious or otherwise). If there is only one system to influence, stakeholders are left to clamor for zero-sum victories because there is only one set of schools in which to disseminate ideas. Education choice releases the pressure of those fights and allows people to find an education that fits their needs and values – especially when those are religious values.  

Education choice has plenty of debate surrounding it, but it certainly holds benefits for individuals and society. Students fortunate enough to have access to choices are more likely to get an education that meets their needs and family values. States that champion pluralism through education choice are simultaneously strengthening other freedoms like freedom of speech and religious liberty.