This is the Kado Daily Podcast for Tuesday, November 19th, 2019. I'm Caleb Brown.

The classic line long associated with school choice is is we can't give people that option

because if we do they'll take it. North Carolina has more than 20 years of

experience with school choice programs. Bob Lubki directs Policy at the Civitas Institute in North Carolina.

We spoke last month in Colorado Springs.

I'm from Kentucky and Kentucky is special in a way with respect to school choice that is not really

worthy of envy for people who are fans of school choice. So it's always

interesting for me to learn what the experiences of

states that have been more successful with school choice programs. What's the

gem of North Carolina's school choice offerings?

I think the array of programs.

I mean, the fundamental premise that defines school choices, all kids are different and parents

deserve the opportunity to put their child in the best educational environment.

And success in that area means developing schools that match the differences between kids,

whether it be a charter school, whether if you have a special

needs child, whether that be an ESA, whether that be a voucher program or a voucher that allows children to attend, you know, a private school of their own choice.

All kids are different. When you have a wide array of opportunities for parents that allows them to put their child in the school that best fits them.

So why then has North Carolina, in your view, been successful at having this wide range of programs for parents?

Well, because we've had the opportunity to pass programs.

We expanded charter schools in 2010. In the sense that we lifted, there was a

cap on charter schools from 1996 when the program started to 2010 and there was an extreme backlog amongst

parents and children who couldn't get in existing charters. We listed the cap on that and

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