In her 2024 Budget Address, Governor Noem announced an educational innovation for the parents and students of South Dakota: Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs). She explained that this investment would pay for a portion of private school tuition or curriculum for alternative education for South Dakota kids. And this endeavor has my full support.

Now, I spent 38 years, well over half my life, working in public schools. I love what they do for the children of our state and nation. And South Dakota has some excellent public schools. All four of my children graduated from the Mitchell School District after receiving an education that allowed them to succeed anywhere. Which they promptly did.

So, if all that is true, why am I supporting the ESA bill? After all, some public-school advocates have boisterously voiced their objection to this concept.

First, we must empower families in their decision-making on the education of their children. For ages, educators have known that the number one factor in a child’s academic success is the active involvement of their parents. That needs to begin with the selection of their preferred school option. For a myriad of reasons, some parents view the default option, public school, as less than appealing. They want a different opportunity for their child, and they should have options.

Second, such school options should be available to all parents, regardless of ability to pay. If your immediate response is that such options already exist – private schools and homeschooling – you are correct. But they only exist for some parents: parents who have enough money to pay private school tuition or have one parent leave the workforce in order to teach at the family homeschool. Some parents don’t have that ability. They struggle to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Tuition will put their family budget in the red, as will going from two breadwinners to one. Education can be expensive, but that shouldn’t mean that those without should be left with just one option.

Third, South Dakota has educational deserts, and we need to fix that. Nobody likes to talk about it, but we have parts of our state where literally 0% of students read at grade level. Most people don’t concern themselves with that reality because it doesn’t affect their children. But that is the sort of neglect no society should tolerate. ESAs will make academic achievement possible by providing more opportunities for their students.

Finally, we need to provide greater competition within the educational marketplace. In every field of human endeavor, performance improves with greater levels of competition. In this way, ESAs will benefit public schools, as well. Let’s unleash that powerful force for improvement on all schools.

The program is straightforward. Parents of eligible students who apply would receive access to an ESA, amounting to 40% of the allocation provided to public schools for each of their students, or about $3,000. Parents could use the funds to pay tuition for private schools, microschools (programs in which homeschooled students gather for instruction), virtual school courses, and various materials for alternative instruction. They could also use the funds to purchase curriculum, instructional materials, and some limited technology to support their education.

The education status quo is simply not good enough. Improving it requires something new. Decades of new educational programs and increased spending have not done the trick, unless the trick is increasing taxes and ballooning federal budgets. On behalf of children and parents who currently feel left without viable options, I absolutely support ESAs.

Dr. Joseph Graves is the Cabinet Secretary for the South Dakota Department of Education.