The debate over school choice in Kansas often gets bogged down in politics and process. But the latest data make the stakes clear.
The 2026 ABCs of School Choice from EdChoice is the most comprehensive inventory of private school choice programs in the country. After 25 years of tracking these policies, EdChoice doesn’t just catalog programs—it evaluates them against a clear standard of what works.
By that standard, Kansas is not keeping pace.
How EdChoice Measures Success
EdChoice evaluates school choice programs using three pillars of universality:
- Eligibility – who can participate
- Options – how broadly families can use education funds
- Funding – whether dollars meaningfully follow students
States that meet a high bar across all three are classified as having universal or near-universal choice. These states see higher participation, stronger provider entry, and greater innovation. Kansas does not meet that bar.
Where Kansas Ranks in Practice
Kansas offers a tax-credit scholarship program that serves a limited subset of low-income students. According to the EdChoice report, programs like this—while helpful to some families—do not qualify as universal and rarely reach scale.
Kansas falls into the category of states with restricted eligibility, limited funding, and narrow allowable uses. In practical terms:
- Only a small share of Kansas’ roughly 500,000 K–12 students are eligible
- Funding levels are capped well below public per-pupil spending
- Families have limited flexibility in how funds can be used
By contrast, states such as Florida, Arizona, and Iowa meet EdChoice’s universality benchmarks. Florida alone now serves more than 500,000 students through education savings accounts (ESAs) that allow families to pay for tuition, tutoring, therapies, curriculum, and online learning.
The difference isn’t political rhetoric. It’s program design.
Why Partial Choice Falls Short
The EdChoice data show a consistent pattern: states with narrow programs stay small. Participation remains low. New schools and service providers hesitate to enter the market. Families just above eligibility cutoffs are excluded. Kansas fits that pattern.
This matters because Kansas already funds education on a universal basis. Every student gets taxpayer money to attend a government school. The question is whether those dollars are locked into systems or allowed to follow students.
EdChoice’s research finds that universal ESAs unlock demand. When eligibility is broad and rules are neutral, families participate at much higher rates—often two to three times higher than in states with targeted programs.
What Legislators Should Take From the Report
For Kansas lawmakers, the ABCs of School Choice should be read as a warning.
School choice is no longer experimental. Nearly half the states now offer programs approaching universality. Kansas is being outpaced not because it lacks resources, but because it has chosen caution over trust.
As Kansas Policy Institute has noted, repeated legislative failures to expand choice have left Kansas families with fewer options than families in many peer states. The EdChoice data confirm that this gap will widen unless policy changes.
Incremental tweaks—slightly broader eligibility here, a modest funding increase there—will not change Kansas’ standing. They keep the state in the same non-universal category year after year.
The Case for Universal ESAs in Kansas
A universal education savings account would align Kansas with the states leading on choice. It would:
- make every student eligible
- allow funds to be used across education services
- introduce competition and innovation statewide
- treat families as decision-makers, not afterthoughts
The EdChoice report makes one thing unmistakable: universality is the dividing line between states that lead and states that lag.
Kansas legislators face a clear choice. Continue defending a limited system that EdChoice data show will never scale—or adopt universal ESAs that trust parents and put students first.
The data are already in. What Kansas does next will determine where it shows up in future editions of the ABCs of School Choice.
