Private school choice programs are frequently mired in political and legal controversy. Two primary factors fuel this controversy. First, these programs trace their roots to the 1960s in the height of school desegregation. Tuition-grant laws came forth across the South during this period, enabling White families to access public funds to pay tuition at private schools instead of sending their children to racially mixed public schools. Second, many of the schools that receive public funds through these programs are explicitly religious, creating debate over their constitutionality. Despite the controversy, private school choice programs currently operate in 31 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and serve approximately 1.4 million students. The goal of this brief is to provide state policymakers with a clear understanding of the fact-base underlying private school choice programs: what they are, how they work, who they serve, and how the policies that shape them can be strengthened to ensure that the students attending private schools through these programs receive a high-quality education. This publication is one of seven in a series of briefs on school choice from the National Comprehensive Center.