Donning their familiar yellow scarves, hundreds of students and school choice supporters from around the state gathered outside the Kansas State Capitol to celebrate the 10th annual School Choice Week and urge lawmakers to pass a comprehensive school choice bill this session.
Senate Bill 75 proposes an $8,000 tax credit for families enrolling each of their children in an accredited private school and $4,000 for students attending a non-accredited institution.
The bill’s author, Senate Education Committee Chair Renee Erickson, spoke to the crowd about her legislation she dubs “Education Freedom”.
“George Washington Carver once said that education is the “golden key” to freedom. I’m here to tell you Education Freedom is the key to education. How on Earth are we traditionally supporting systems over students? It’s unconscionable. It’s time to support students over systems. To not just give lip service to diversity, but to truly value the diversity in learning styles and individuals for every single student in Kansas. It shouldn’t be because of your zip code or your socio-economic status that you don’t have opportunities.”
Kamden Tharp of Shawnee sees advantages of school choice from both sides of the classroom:
“I’m a kindergarten teacher at Maranatha Christian Academy and I’m also a parent of two students at Maranatha. I think school choice is very important. I know for my family public school wasn’t meeting our students’ needs anymore. We were looking for options, trying to find a place that would work and serve our children, all their academic, spiritual, and social needs.
“I think National School Choice Week is important to raise awareness for school choice and for parents to be able to choose the best possible education for their individual students.”
Bishop Wade Moore, Jr. leads the Urban Prep Academy of Wichita. He celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the event:
“We are celebrating School Choice Week and seeing all the great students who have come to Topeka for their voices to be heard and today…Wow!…we put Kansas on the map as we celebrate school choice!”
Kansas Policy Institute was a sponsor of the Capitol event. James Franko, its President, and sees school choice as an opportunity to stem the tide in student test scores:
“Each year this rally has grown as more people from around the state share their stories and the need for dramatic changes in K-12 education. Overall achievement is, at best, flat, and the gaps between low-income kids and their peers are staggeringly tragic. Too many kids are being left behind and this rally is only the latest step towards universal educational freedom becoming a reality in Kansas.”
Beneficiaries of school choice are students like Zuri Spresser, a homeschooler in Sharon Springs:
“With 60-plus children, we have struggled to find a building to accommodate our needs, even after exploring options for over a year. School choice will put valuable resources back in the hands of parents where they belong. With the money following the student, families will be able to give their children the best possible education. We’ll be able to build a healthy culture where children can be nurtured body, mind and soul. It’s time to give the money to the student and not the system.”
A 2025 survey showed 60% of families searched for new schools last year, and higher numbers of black families, parents 18-29, and military families did so. Kansas currently has limited choice options, offering open enrollment based on the receiving school’s capacity and tax-credit scholarships for low-income students.
