The Heritage Foundation has published its fifth annual Education Freedom Report Card, revealing a deepening divide among states in the region regarding how much authority families hold over their children's education.
The report evaluates states across five distinct categories: education choice, academic transparency, teacher freedom, return on investment, and civics. These combined metrics determine an overall ranking intended to show parents and students how effectively each state advances education reform. The separation between states is not based on educational spending levels, but on the degree of control families possess over student learning.
The latest results place Florida in the number one position for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Arizona and Arkansas. Idaho ranks fourth overall and eighth in education choice.
Just a few years ago, Idaho ranked 18th in the 2024 report. The state's turnaround into a leader in education freedom is attributed in part to the success of its Parental Choice Tax Credit Program. This initiative established a refundable tax credit allowing eligible families to receive up to $7,500 per student for qualifying education expenses. Idaho also achieved high rankings in the return on investment category, combining frugal per-pupil spending with comparatively strong academic performance.
Moving up four spots to rank 21st in the 2026 report, Wyoming offers another example of rapid change in the education landscape. In 2023, Wyoming ranked near the bottom of the country for education choice, holding the 44th spot in that category. Following the creation of the state's initial education savings account program by lawmakers in 2024, Wyoming's standing improved significantly.
In 2025, that program expanded into the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act, a universal school choice initiative designed to provide eligible students with funds that can follow them to educational options outside their assigned public school. This progression in school choice options resulted in a ranking of 17th in the education choice category for this year.
Montana's school choice options, including education savings accounts for special needs students and freedom for homeschooling families, combined with relatively strong marks for return on investment to earn the 18th spot on this year's Education Freedom Report and 13th in the education choice category. The state's ranking was limited by a 42nd place position in teacher freedom, a result of the state's lack of license reciprocity and limited alternative certification options.
Washington, by contrast, dropped to an overall ranking of 40th.
While neighboring states continue to expand their options, Washington maintains a lack of education freedom. The Heritage Foundation has consistently placed the state near the bottom of its report due to a lack of education options, ranking 48th in the school choice category for the second consecutive year.
The state has no education savings accounts or tax-credit scholarship programs, and the already limited small charter-school program faced additional budget cuts during the last legislative session. Excessive regulations on homeschool families were also factored into the evaluation.
With statewide public school enrollment shrinking, the only school choice Washington parents have exercised is disenrolling their students to independently pursue education alternatives.
A student struggling in a traditional public school classroom in Spokane faces limitations that a student in Coeur dAlene does not. Shouldnt a rural eastern Washington family have the same level of flexibility as one in Montana or Wyoming?
In Washington, the policy question is decided by who makes the decision about what works best: the system or the family.
Supporters of traditional public schools, the teachers union, and majority lawmakers argue that expanding choice reduces resources and enrollment in district schools. While these concerns deserve serious consideration, the states excelling in education freedom in the Mountain West provide Washington with concrete examples to examine rather than forcing the debate to remain theoretical.
The broader trend identified by Heritage is unmistakable. In 2025 alone, Idaho, Wyoming, Tennessee, Texas, and other states created or significantly expanded private education-choice programs. Heritage estimates that roughly 1.2 million students were participating in private-school-choice programs by 2025, more than double the number in 2020.
The Mountain West is becoming a useful experiment in what happens when states give families more control over education. While Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are testing different versions of that idea, Washington faces the reality of more families leaving the public school system or relocating to neighboring states that support parent empowerment.
Meg Goudy is Director of the Bill Milly Kay Baldwin Center for Education at the Mountain States Policy Center, an independent research organization based in Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. Online at mountainstatespolicy.org.