Cato’s education research is grounded in the understanding that education works best when it is rooted in free choices, not coercion and control. Parents— not the government—must be able to choose the education they think best for their children, and educators must be able to teach as they see fit. In higher education, those who will reap the benefits of their education should pay with their own money, or funds voluntarily given by others. And early‐​childhood education must be the purview of families and providers, not government.

Cato has criticized centralized education efforts, including the US Department of Education, for more than 40 years. A few decades ago, libertarian education reform ideas like ending the department were considered unrealistic, even radical. Now President Trump has officially signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, an agency Cato’s Neal McCluskey, director of the Center for Educational Freedom, has described as “unconstitutional, ineffective, incompetent, unnecessary, and expensive.”

School choice and entrepreneurship are also breaking through in education. To track the health of the private K–12 sector, Cato scholars maintain the Private Schooling Status Tracker, which tracks private school openings and permanent closures along with tuition and demographic information, when available. They also conduct an annual private school enrollment survey. In addition, each week in a Friday Feature blog series, scholar Colleen Hroncich highlights innovative schools and exciting educational programs showing the diverse options markets offer families, and what could go to scale were money to follow students. Meanwhile, in April 2024, Hroncich testified before the Joint Economic Committee, arguing that America is too large and diverse for a federal preschool program to make sense.