Based on the recommendations of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, we have worked to improve education by increasing school choice. Providing privately funded vouchers to disadvantaged students is one of the fundamental tenets of our commitment to an improved, market-based educational policy. Unlike traditional scholarships, vouchers are not tied to any one particular school or program; parents are therefore able to choose the schools that best match their children’s needs, abilities, and goals, and students are able to get the education they deserve. 

Private Voucher Programs Funded by Koret

Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has been at the forefront of the school choice movement from its formation in 1996 and pursues an entrepreneurial and aggressive approach to developing the movement. Its deft ability to help build local infrastructures and develop strong local partnerships—including broad and diverse partnerships with Jewish and Catholic organizations, private schools, Democrats and Republicans—has led the Wall Street Journal to call it “the nation’s leading advocate of vouchers.”

The BASIC (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner-City Children) Fund awards renewable scholarships that allow children of low-income families in the Bay Area to attend private schools from kindergarten through eighth grade. Students must meet all academic and admissions requirements for their chosen schools, and parents are required to contribute at least $500 each year toward each child’s education. This modest financial responsibility keeps parents strongly involved and invested in their children’s educational success.

The Guardsmen Scholarship Program is a private scholarship program that aims to improve education options and experiences for low-income, at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. Students in failing public schools are eligible for up to $2,000 each year in vouchers to attend local private schools from kindergarten through high school.  Parents are required to provide at least half of their children’s tuitions.

The Independent Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance for low-income students in the East Bay to attend private schools. Since its inception in 1999, the Fund has supported more than 1,000 students.