Getting Choice Right from the Progressive Policy Institute suggests ways to better design school choice policies to reach all students and families. This collection of essays, an outgrowth of discussions by a panel, addresses processes for education choices not whether to have them. The panel determined choice is here to stay and it’s a matter of how it’s managed and promoted regarding equity, resources and accountability.

Both of these important reports thoughtfully review critical issues regarding choice in readable formats.

As part of a recently passed spending bill, the U.S. Congress created a publicly funded voucher program for the District of Columbia. The bill provides $13 million to cover vouchers of up to $7,500 for at least 1,700 children once the program is phased in. Children in families whose household income does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty line will receive priority.

The Brookings Institution established the National Working Commission on Choice in K-12 Education to explore how CHOICE works and to examine how communities interested in the potential benefits of new school options. The commission’s report, entitled “School Choice: Doing It the Right Way Makes a Difference,” explores choice in terms of four key issues: benefits to children whose parents choose new schools; benefits to children whose families do not exercise choice; effects on the national commitment to equal opportunity and school desegregation; and advancement of social cohesion and common democratic values.