Two years after Arkansas passed universal education choice, the average achievement of participating students rose even as the program tripled in size, with homeschoolers leading the way. That’s the big news from a new University of Arkansas report that analyzed the results from the first year the state’s Education Freedom Account program was available to every K–12 student.

The growth in program participation and improvement in student outcomes in the Natural State is another in a series of universal school choice successes across the country.

After Arizona passed universal choice, the number of private schools in the program increased by 150 in just the first year, while the number of vendors offering educational resources and services increased by 27 percent.

In Iowa, low-income children who participate in the education savings account program outperform low-income children in traditional public schools on measures of both achievement and growth.

In West Virginia, home to the country’s first universal choice program, participation in the Hope Scholarship Program nearly doubled in 2025, increasing from 5,443 students the previous year to 10,530 students.

These programs are wildly popular among families, and none spend anywhere near as much as public schools. Moreover, the available data shows that their misuse rates are very low. In Arizona, egregious unallowed purchases account for just 0.3 percent of ESA spending, and even the overall improper spending rate is around 2 percent—far below the improper payment rates for long-established government programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Kids are performing better, programs are growing at rapid rates, and taxpayer funds are being spent effectively and responsibly. The market is working, just as Milton Friedman predicted.

Despite this success, the regulators are coming.

During the 2026 legislative session, EdChoice tracked 95 bills across 21 states that sought to regulate or eliminate parental choice in education. Forty-three bills were aimed at curtailing education savings accounts, and 28 targeted homeschooling. The main approaches to reducing parental choice included adding onerous reporting or governance mandates, shrinking program eligibility, lowering funding, and even repealing programs outright.

The poster child for this fight was Arizona. Opponents of the Grand Canyon State’s universal ESA program tried to gather enough signatures to pass a constitutional amendment that would have effectively gutted it. In an effort to head off that amendment, some proponents tried to enact a law that would have added more guardrails.

These regulatory efforts at the state level are only the tip of the iceberg.

A bill currently in front of the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit has over 100 cosponsors. A similar measure in the U.S. Senate has 31 cosponsors.

Moreover, if the midterm elections this fall do bring a blue wave, we can expect these regulatory and anti-choice efforts not only to continue but to increase starting next year, both at the federal and state levels.

The response to these efforts to regulate education choice is twofold.

First, the education freedom movement needs to come together to fight against all efforts to stifle school choice. Our opponents are steadfast in resisting any and all maneuvers in the private sector that facilitate individual choice. Proponents must be likewise united in their resistance against overregulating choice programs.

Second, and more importantly, we must hew to Milton Friedman’s wisdom about regulation: “The view that regulation is necessary to protect the consumer is a fallacy. The consumer is protected by the market itself — by the availability of alternative suppliers.”

The wonders of the market are just beginning to flourish in K–12 education. Now is not the time to nip them in the bud.

Robert Enlow is President and CEO of EdChoice.