School choice describes programs that allow students to choose to attend any of various participating private and public schools, usually based on a system of vouchers, tax credits, or scholarships. These programs are generally intended to give parents more input in which primary and secondary schools their children attend. In the United States, school choice sometimes refers to the social movement instrumental in promoting these programs. The goal of school choice is to create competition between schools for education dollars, which may give public schools an incentive to perform better than without competition. However, opponents have argued that the free-market theory does not work in the educational realm, and that allowing school choice will hurt more students than it helps [1].

Various school choice advocacy groups differ in the extent to which they support privatization. Some do not advocate privatization at all, wishing only to allow parents greater choice among different public schools. Others seek to grant parents the option of either spending vouchers at privately run schools, or of obtaining tax credits for the same. Along these lines, proponents argue that funding should be tied to the student, not the district, and the student should be able to use the education voucher at any school.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". Content on Wikipedia is covered by disclaimers.