Who Wins, Who Loses—Revisited

Milton and Rose Friedman established the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, now known as EdChoice, 30 years ago last month, aiming to advance the concept of universal school choice. At the time of its founding, universal school choice was a distant aspiration for the Friedmans, who were frustrated by the consistent failure of even minor attempts to introduce choice in education. EdChoice was created to educate the public on the advantages and necessity of school choice. Without concrete data on the long-term impact of universal choice programs, the Friedmans relied on their vision, outlined in their 1998 article "Who Wins, Who Loses—A Look at the Future." This article explored the potential outcomes for various stakeholders five years after the implementation of a broad voucher program, usable at any accredited public or private institution, regardless of its religious or for-profit status. Their predictions identified teachers, employers, voucher recipients, and students remaining in public schools as potential winners. Conversely, they anticipated that bureaucrats, teachers' unions, and certain politicians would be the losers in such a system. Thirty years after their initial efforts, the landscape of education has seen significant shifts, partly due to the ongoing work of the foundation.