The Foundation for Educational Choice
Encyclopedia
The Foundation for Educational Choice is an Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

-based non-profit organization dedicated to the issue of school choice
School choice
School choice is a term used to describe a wide array of programs aimed at giving families the opportunity to choose the school their children will attend. As a matter of form, school choice does not give preference to one form of schooling or another, rather manifests itself whenever a student...

 and committed to assisting education reform efforts. The Foundation was founded in 1996 by Nobel laureate Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...

 and his wife, economist Rose Director Friedman
Rose Friedman
Rose Director Friedman , also known as Rose D. Friedman and Rose Director was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. She was the wife of Milton Friedman , the winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics, and sister of Aaron Director...

, and was then known as the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation.

The Foundation’s 14-member board is chaired by Dr. Patrick Byrne
Patrick M. Byrne
Patrick M. Byrne is the president, CEO, and chairman of the board of directors of Internet retailer Overstock.com. In 1999, Byrne took control of the company, then called D2: Discounts Direct, and changed its name to Overstock...

.

School Choice

In 1955 Milton Friedman put forth an idea of using free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

 principles to improve the United States public school system
Education in the United States
Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory.Public education is universally available...

. Currently, public schools are funded by state and local taxes and a child is assigned their school based on where that student lives. Friedman pointed out that by distributing vouchers to the families of students equal to the tuition that he/she would receive at his/her local public school, a student’s family could then choose from options where best to send their child.

The Foundation, following Friedman’s view, is focused on the creation and growth of school choice programs either through vouchers or tax-based incentive programs.

Research

The Foundation has three series of research dedicated to exploring the benefits and pitfalls of choice programs.
School Choice Issues in the State – Focused on topics of education and education reform in given states.
School Choice Issues in Depth – Focused on issues of education and education reform on a national or multi-state level.
School Choice Survey in the State – Public opinion surveys focused on education and education reform in given states.

Publications

Other publications The Foundation is known to put out regularly include:
The School Choice Advocate – A publication dedicated to the current state of school choice and recent foundation activities.
The ABC’s of School Choice – An annual publication that provides a detailed breakdown of current choice programs in different states as well as a glossary of school choice terms and FAQ’s.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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