Try as I might, I’ve never been able to get into March Madness. The closest I came was when I had a March baby in 2006, and there wasn’t much else to watch on the hospital TV. So when a Cato colleague invited everyone to fill in a bracket—with only bragging rights on the line, no money—I had to figure out a way to pick my teams. No one in my family was surprised that I picked based on the school choice policies in each team’s state.
The school choice approach is a little tricky since more than 30 states have school choice—meaning it’s often a head-to-head matchup of two states with school choice programs. I try to use the reach of a program as my tiebreaker, although sometimes I have to just make a selection based on other considerations.
The school choice approach means I’ve had to pick some long shots at different levels. No. 3 seed Kentucky was knocked out in my first round since there are no school choice programs in the state, whereas its opponent, Troy University, is in Alabama—home to the CHOOSE Act education savings account. Similarly, I picked No. 15 Omaha over No. 2 St. John’s since Nebraska has a voucher while New York has no private school choice. (As an aside, it’s oddly hard to figure out where some schools are located when the name doesn’t include the city or state. It would be helpful if the brackets included that information.)
While Texas currently doesn’t have any school choice programs, I gave Texas teams the benefit of the doubt in my selections and advanced them as if one of the universal plans currently being debated in the legislature has been passed. But that can only go so far. I advanced Texas A&M over Yale and Michigan in the early rounds. But in the Sweet 16, I went with No. 16 Alabama St. over No. 4 Texas A&M since Alabama’s program has already been passed.
Without me even trying, my championship matchup was Florida vs. Arizona, which lines up with the current school choice champions. As anyone who ranks school choice programs can attest, which state lands on top depends on which factors you consider. My tiebreaker for this one was having a friend who’s a proud Florida Gator and works at Step Up for Students, the main scholarship organization in Florida.
Last year was my first time using the school choice approach to a sports bracket, and I can’t say it was very successful. But with more states creating and expanding programs, my basis for selecting teams has also expanded. Perhaps this will give me a better chance this year.