Reason Foundation and Civitas Institute Publish ESA Study | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Terry Stoops.

    Dr. Corey DeAngelis, Director of School Choice, Reason Foundation, and the Civitas Institute just published a new study of North Carolina's Education Savings Account (ESA) Program. In "Funding Students Instead of Systems The Economic Impacts of Statewide Education Savings Accounts in North Carolina," DeAngelis concludes,

• Applying cautious estimates from each outcome (academic achievement, educational attainment, and crime reduction) to the 77,510 students estimated to use the program in the first year, this study finds that expanding access to education savings accounts in North Carolina would be expected to provide the following long-run economic benefits:
  • $19 billion in economic benefits from higher lifetime earnings associated with increases in academic achievement
  • $790 million in economic benefits from additional high school graduates
  • $12 million from reductions in the social costs associated with crimes
• Assuming a one percentage point increase in program enrollment per year, this study projects the following long-run economic benefits from the 232,530 students expected to use education savings accounts by the 2030-31 school year:
  • $58 billion in economic benefits from higher lifetime earnings associated with increases in academic achievement
  • $2.4 billion in economic benefits from additional high school graduates
  • $35 million from reductions in the social costs associated with crimes

    This study adds to a growing body of literature that identifies both existing and potential benefits of school choice programs.