Victories were piecemeal throughout Cato’s decades of education research, testimony, and advocacy, but the combination of COVID-19 school closures and educational culture wars shined a spotlight on the inability of public schools to serve diverse people equally and led to an explosion in school choice. Since 2020, approximately half of US states have enacted or expanded school choice programs. More than 40 years of Cato’s foundational research and advocacy helped guide the course.

The CEF released its interactive School Choice Timeline right before National School Choice Week in January. The timeline shows that the movement for educational freedom has existed as long as public schooling has and puts into perspective its tremendous progress over the past few years. It also debunks claims that the choice movement is rooted in efforts to thwart public school desegregation.

Fulfilling our vision of a freer tomorrow demands that we empower young leaders and educate them in libertarian thought and public policy issues. We accomplish this through innovative programs that inspire students across the country to keep the flame of liberty alive, including the Cato Internship Program. A core component of a Cato internship—and one most often cited by former interns as transformative in deepening their knowledge and developing their views—is the John Russell Paslaqua Intern Seminar Series, which bears the name of a former intern who passed away in 2017, just two years after completing the program.

The seminar series curriculum covers topics ranging from public policy, economics, history, and political philosophy to writing and speaking skills, presented by Cato’s senior staff across more than 40 sessions.

The John Russell Paslaqua Intern Seminar Series was established in 2019 by John’s father, Kenneth Paslaqua, to honor his son’s legacy. Encouraged by the success of the series in inspiring and preparing hundreds of young libertarians to embark on their careers—just as the Cato internship had for John—Kenneth provided five more years of funding for the seminar series in 2023.

Thanks to Kenneth’s generosity, more than 430 young students have had the opportunity to follow in John’s footsteps since 2019, participating in research tutorials, professional development workshops, and deep‐​dive lectures on the philosophical underpinnings of libertarianism.

Too many areas of our society have become infected with toxic partisanship, causing citizens to retreat into echo chambers where viewpoint diversity is shunned and polarization is exacerbated. In response to educator concerns about the impact of partisanship on today’s young people, the Institute established Project Sphere. Leveraging Cato’s well-earned reputation for working across the ideological spectrum and partisan divides, the program seeks to assist educators in repairing our civic culture by modeling civil discourse and respectful disagreement and encouraging viewpoint diversity.

Cato’s Sphere Education Initiatives provide professional development seminars and classroom resources to educators and administrators for grades 5–12. These tools present key policy topics, introduce diverse viewpoints (libertarian, conservative, and progressive), and model how to teach civil discourse and debate.

Sphere Education Initiatives has grown exponentially in the past year and is well on its way to exceeding our initial goal of reaching 8,000 educators and one million students by the end of 2024. Sphere’s network currently includes more than 7,500 educators—a significant increase from 3,500 in July 2022. Our members represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org (L.org) is one of Cato’s most effective means of education and outreach to broad and intellectually curious audiences. The website entered an exciting new chapter in 2023, with aesthetic, structural, and content changes to enhance appeal to key audiences such as teachers and students using Sphere Education Initiatives’ classroom resources.

L.org launched The Liberty Exchange, a flagship podcast exploring libertarian themes, and began organizing articles, videos, and podcasts into thematic collections that enable the unfamiliar to better understand important aspects of libertarianism. In 2024, L.org’s content will expand to a new website that will be integrated with powerful visuals, social media, and video platforms to create multiple opportunities for educational engagement. This integrated approach will inspire a deeper understanding and appreciation of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.