How ballot measures have shaped school choice policy 100 years after Pierce v. Society of Sisters

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to the Friday, May 30, Brew. 

By: Briana Ryan

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. How ballot measures have shaped school choice policy 100 years after Pierce v. Society of Sisters
  2. Ballotpedia turns 18, by Leslie Graves, Ballotpedia Founder and CEO
  3. Seven new ballot measures have been certified for 2025, and two new measures have been certified for 2026

How ballot measures have shaped school choice policy 100 years after Pierce v. Society of Sisters

One hundred years ago, on June 1, 1925, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, striking down a voter-approved ballot initiative, Oregon Measure Nos. 314-315, which required children to attend public schools. 

The Court decided that “the child is not the mere creature of the State” and “the fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments of this Union rest excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only.”

While Pierce did not directly establish modern school choice programs, the Court has cited it in later rulings on school choice, including Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) and Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020). Harvard University’s Paul E. Peterson said, “Pierce did not launch the school choice movement, but 100 years ago it laid the groundwork to advance” this policy area.

Because the case originated from a ballot measure and remains relevant to school choice jurisprudence today, Pierce is a useful starting point for exploring how ballot measures have influenced school choice policy.

Since 1970, voters in 12 states have decided on 22 school choice measures, including vouchers, tax credits, education savings accounts (ESAs), and charter schools.

School choice refers to policies and programs allowing families to select educational options beyond their assigned public school. Some policies involve public funding for private education or homeschooling through vouchers, ESAs, or tax credits. Others involve authorizing or expanding public alternatives, such as charter schools or open enrollment. 

The most common school choice measures have addressed vouchers or similar programs (10 or 45%) and charter schools (six or 27%). Three addressed tax credits, one addressed ESAs, and two addressed other constitutional matters.

Voters approved two (9.1%) of these measures and defeated 20 (90.9%). The two measures that voters approved, Georgia Amendment 1 and Washington Initiative 1240, were both on the ballot in 2012 and concerned charter schools.

Some of the earliest school choice-related measures, in the 1950s and 1960s, were introduced in response to school desegregation and Brown v. Board of Education. Beyond their historical and political context, these measures differed from later school choice-related ballot initiatives in several ways: 

  1. Some sought to authorize eliminating public schools, at least at the local level.
  2. State legislatures referred them to the ballot.
  3. Voters approved them.

Measures proposing private education vouchers began appearing on ballots in the 1970s. Voters rejected these in Nebraska, Maryland, and Michigan. Also in that decade, voters in Michigan approved Proposal 3, which prohibited vouchers in the state’s Constitution.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, voucher proposals continued to be the most common type of school choice-related measure. However, education tax credits were on the ballot in Utah, Oregon, and Colorado. There was also the first measure related to charter schools—Washington Initiative 177.

Measures on charter schools became more common in the 2000s. Of the five measures voted on in that decade, three (60%) addressed vouchers, and two (40%) addressed charter schools.

In the 2010s, three (75%) measures addressed charter schools, while a fourth introduced a new topic for school choice measures: ESAs.

Three school choice-related measures have appeared on ballots in the 2020s—all in 2024. These measures—in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska—were the most to appear in a single year since 2000. Voters rejected all three. As of May 30, no school choice-related ballot measures have qualified for the ballot in either 2025 or 2026.

Most school choice policies are enacted through state legislatures rather than ballot measures. In 2025, for example, Idaho, Indiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming passed laws authorizing or expanding school choice programs.

Click here to read more about the history of school choice ballot measures. You can also learn more about school choice by clicking here and here.

Ballotpedia turns 18

That first step, the first word, the first new tooth, and the first day at school — growing up is full of milestones, including that big day when we turn 18. 

We now have at least some adult responsibilities. We can register to vote. We can sign contracts, become notaries, serve on a jury, and do a host of other things that no longer require permission from others.

But with every milestone we reach, we remember those who helped shape us. They still worry about us, cheer our successes, share our grief, and urge us on to greater things.

I say all this because Ballotpedia just turned 18. It’s a time for celebration, joy, and an opportunity to take real, unabashed pride in our accomplishments. But it’s also a time to reflect. 

But first, how did this all get started?

What we know as Ballotpedia started out as a search for answers. I was searching for information about local elections in my community, and quickly discovered how hard it was to find it. Those concerns expanded as I started looking deeper into how my local government worked.

I started asking questions — a lot of questions. And when local officials couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, I started filing freedom of information requests for the raw data. A surprising number of those went ignored.

With plenty of encouragement from my family and friends, I started a group whose goal was to help ordinary citizens understand how to use transparency laws and online portals to find out how to connect with their government.

One of our early projects was launching something we called WikiFOIA. It was based on the Wikipedia model in that it crowd-sourced information on state freedom of information laws. 

The effort was a hit, showing me there was a big demand for tools and resources people could use to understand and participate in their government.

We started growing bigger, branching out into coverage of state and local ballot measures, recall elections, and the federal and state court systems. 

Now, in our 18th year, we’re providing comprehensive coverage of every election in 26 states. That’s in addition to our regular coverage of elections in the nation’s 100 largest cities, every state capital, the 200 biggest school districts, and more. Our website has grown to more than 600,000 articles, giving readers unbiased information on almost every aspect of federal, state, and local politics and major public policy issues like education reform, the administrative state, election policy, and more.

Looking back at some of our old annual reports reminds me that we have always been eager to set ambitious goals for ourselves. 

For example, in our 2013 annual report, we said we wanted to become “the leading source of information about U.S. politics by 2024.”

That was a major goal for an organization that, at the time, was just seven years old.

We reached that goal in 2024, becoming the leading source of neutral, fact-based information on politics and policy — and ranking among the most balanced news sources in the country.

We were fortunate to have people who stood with us, encouraged us, supported us, and urged us to set even more ambitious goals.

Our goal right now: to sustainably provide complete coverage of every election in the country by 2034.

That’s nine years away, when Ballotpedia will be approaching the age when our kids are fully-fledged adults with concerns, hopes, and perhaps even children of their own.

There’s a long journey ahead — and I can’t wait to get started.

Seven new ballot measures have been certified for 2025, and two new measures have been certified for 2026

As of May 27, the number of certified statewide ballot measures for both 2025 and 2026 is trending above average compared to previous election cycles.

Twenty-two measures have been certified for the 2025 ballot in Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Voters have already decided on six measures, while the other 16 are scheduled for elections on Nov. 4.

Over the past two weeks, seven new measures were certified for the Nov. 4 ballot in Texas:

Forty-three measures have been certified for the 2026 ballot in 25 states. Over the past two weeks, two new measures have been certified in two states:

Signatures were verified for two indirect initiatives in Maine, which would appear on the Nov. 4, 2025 ballot. Since these are indirect citizen initiatives, the Maine Legislature can pass them outright. Otherwise, voters will decide these initiatives.

Signatures for a veto referendum concerning House Bill 267 were filed in Utah. On May 8, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson (R) announced that 251,274 signatures had been verified. There is now a 45-day period for citizens to remove their signatures before the referendum can be certified for the 2026 ballot.

The next signature deadlines for initiatives intended for the Nov. 4, 2025, ballot are July 2 in Ohio and July 3 in Washington.

Click here for a deep dive into the measures certified for the 2026 ballot. You can also check out certifications for the 2025 ballot here.