Ashley Bateman writes for The Federalist website about an emerging trend involving education savings accounts.

As school districts struggle to enact effective, broad based reform, some parents have stopped waiting on the system and are taking an ESA-type approach to their children’s education. Commonly referred to as home schooling, but increasingly social and community-based, parent-designed education is already a thriving academic model.

More than 2 million children are already home educated in the United States, with growth increasing each year. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, these students relieve taxpayers of a projected $24 billion annually in tax-funded education spending.

Not only cost-effective, NHERI lists education customization as the top reason for home education; and the return is high. Home-educated students on average score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized tests. Scores on SATs and ACTs also rank above those of their public-school peers. According to NHERI, these achievements hold regardless of family income or parent education level.

“It has long been proven that homeschoolers have as good and often a better education than other students,” said Yvonne Bunn, director of homeschool support and legislative affairs for the Home Educators Association of Virginia. “Non-certified teaching parents have done an excellent job. Home educated students score higher than any other academic group, public or private school students, on standardized achievement tests, SATs, ACTs, and PSATs, creating lots of interest from colleges and universities who are wooing them with scholarships. The greatest challenge now is working with local school boards and superintendents to maintain our freedom to homeschool. We’re sometimes faced with local policies that go beyond the scope of the law.”

Metropolises are seeing increases in home-educated students, and local markets are responding. As ESAs expand across the nation, ESA funds could contribute to this thriving market of purchasable educational services. As parents canvas local and online resources in crafting their child’s education, competition between vendors would, ideally, increase quality and affordability.