Rapid and controversial, the spread of school choice initiatives across the United States has radically changed political debate about public education. In this volume, Michael Mintrom explores the complex world of open-enrollment policies, charter schools and voucher plans to reveal how and why school choice has become a major issue. Mintrom uses the emergence of school choice in state politics to examine how policy change originates. In this comprehensive treatment of the concept of policy entrepreneurship, he draws important conclusions about how innovative individuals can spur significant change in the policy arena. Blending theory with investigation, Mintrom explains how energetic people made school choice a real choice.