So far, our National School Choice Week blog series has looked back at some success stories from 2021. But today, we’re looking ahead to see if 2022 will be another year of education choice.

While I don’t have a crystal ball, the outlook is promising based on the flurry of activity already happening in state legislatures around the country. There are currently at least 20 bills to expand education opportunities through education savings accounts (ESAs), tax credit scholarships, or vouchers.

In my home state of Pennsylvania, there are at least five school choice bills in the General Assembly. House Bill 1, the Excellent Education for All Act, would create education opportunity accounts (another name for ESAs), increase the cap on tax credit scholarships, protect learning pods, and implement some charter school reforms. Other PA bills are more narrowly focused and would either increase tax credit scholarship caps or create targeted ESAs. The current governor is not a fan of school choice, but this is his last year in office. Pennsylvania will be interesting to watch since there are very crowded fields in both parties trying to replace him.

Some states with active legislation currently have no private school choice programs—including Michigan, Nebraska, and Washington. Unfortunately, that may not change anytime soon for residents of Washington at least. Liv Finne, the Washington Policy Center’s Director of Education, doesn’t expect any of her state’s four private school choice bills to pass—despite polling that shows 70 percent of the public supports ESAs. But she sees progress in the increased number of choice bills being introduced as well as more parents calling for the state to fund children, not the system.

South Carolina has an ESA bill aimed at low‐​income families that is being hotly debated right now. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that entrenched interests—including the teachers’ unions—oppose this program that would transfer power to parents. But parents know their children best and deserve to have more options when it comes to their children’s education. Since the legislation is supported by many Republicans, who control the legislature, as well as Gov. McMaster, hopefully families can expect positive news this year.

Virginia is another state to watch after the idea of empowering parents pushed Glenn Youngkin into the governor’s seat. So far, his “school choice” proposal is weak; he pledged to create at least 20 new charter schools, which is a drop in a bucket when you consider there are more than 2,000 public schools in the state. Youngkin issued a proclamation celebrating school choice week, giving families hope, but it was very focused on the public school sector. Virginia’s new lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, supports a much broader school choice policy, including vouchers that would let parents choose a public or private school. Perhaps her support will bring the governor around on the issue.

It’s too soon to know if 2022 will be the “Year of Education Choice 2.0.” But one thing seems clear—parents aren’t going to sit back and take whatever comes their way. With increased parental engagement on school choice issues, legislative victories are likely to follow.