In February, Politico mentioned Rhode Island on a list of states considering the “radical new idea” of education savings accounts (ESAs) to provide parents with educational choice for their children.

It’s rare for the Ocean State to be mentioned among advocates for limited-government policies.  This particular list might seem even more unlikely, considering that Rhode Island has the fifth most powerful teacher unions in the country, according to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

In actuality, Rhode Island has been on the list of school choice states for quite some time — since passage of a tax credit scholarship program in 2006.  That program is, however, extremely small, serving only a few hundred students even after the better part of a decade.  To understanding why Rhode Island would lead — and then lag — on such a policy is to understand why even broader school choice is so critical for the state’s children.

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