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Public Funds Public Schools 9/20/24 Public Funds Public Schools 9/20/24

Anti-Voucher Victories in 2024: A Conversation with Education Advocates from MS, NJ, ID, TX and TN

Although private school voucher programs continue to spread across the country, many states have remained voucher-free or held off significant expansions. In this webinar experienced advocates discussed the work of their organizations and numerous allies to oppose voucher legislation. They offered insight, strategies, and tips for others working against school privatization in their states, with plenty of time for Q&A.

Southern Education Foundation 9/12/24 Southern Education Foundation 9/12/24

Education Policy in the South: 2024 Legislative Spotlight

This webinar provides a high-level overview of education policy and news from the 2024 southern legislative sessions, highlighting regional trends, and reviewing SEF’s policy recommendations. Partners, lawmakers, and other stakeholders are encouraged to attend and share widely across their networks.

Eli Hager 9/12/24 Eli Hager 9/12/24

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

Paige Masten 9/12/24 Paige Masten 9/12/24

NC voucher fallout: We’re all paying for pricey private schools. It’ll get worse

Charlotte Christian School states on its website that all families applying for financial assistance for the 2024-25 school year must also apply to North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program. The same is true of Trinity Academy in Raleigh, North Raleigh Christian Academy and many other schools in the state that accept voucher payments.

Jason Bailey, Dustin Pugel, Joanna LeFebvre, and Pam Thomas 9/12/24 Jason Bailey, Dustin Pugel, Joanna LeFebvre, and Pam Thomas 9/12/24

The Impact of Diverting Public Money to Private School Vouchers in Kentucky

The Kentucky General Assembly enacted a private school voucher program in 2021 and legislation was filed to expand the program before the state Supreme Court struck it down for violating Kentucky’s constitution. That decision led directly to the legislature putting Amendment 2 on the ballot. Similar states that lack Kentucky’s constitutional protections for public education have recently increased spending on vouchers and school privatization at a rapidly growing cost to their budgets. Given that history and context, it is plausible to assume the legislature will pursue a similar path if voters approve the amendment.

Peter Greene 9/12/24 Peter Greene 9/12/24

PA: Bill Proposes $8000 Payoff To Ditch Public School

A new bill in the Pennsylvania Senate is a sort of super-voucher stripped of any pretense, because it simply pays parents to pull their child out of public school.

Alec MacGillis 9/12/24 Alec MacGillis 9/12/24

Conservatives Go to War — Against Each Other — Over School Vouchers

Drive an hour south of Nashville into the rolling countryside of Marshall County, Tennessee — past horse farms, mobile homes and McMansions — and you will arrive in Chapel Hill, population 1,796. It’s the birthplace of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who helped found the Ku Klux Klan. And it’s the home of Todd Warner, one of the most unlikely and important defenders of America’s besieged public schools.

Emily Walkenhorst 9/12/24 Emily Walkenhorst 9/12/24

Deal to expand private school vouchers falls apart as NC lawmakers wind down session

An effort to expand a North Carolina program that uses taxpayer dollars to send students to private school collapsed in the statehouse as lawmakers drew the short legislative session to a close on Thursday.

Republican leaders of the state House and Senate had hoped to expand the Opportunity Scholarships program and had earmarked more than $460 million for the program in separate budget proposals. But negotiations fell apart between the chambers as they tried to figure out how to spend a $1 billion surplus.

Nora De La Cour 9/12/24 Nora De La Cour 9/12/24

North Carolina School Privatizers Are Subverting Democracy

Across the US, right-wing state legislatures have disregarded popular will to enact costly school privatization plans. In North Carolina, they flouted democracy to advance their agenda.

Jon Valant and Nicolas Zerbino 9/12/24 Jon Valant and Nicolas Zerbino 9/12/24

Be wary of what you read in the school voucher debate

The information surrounding universal voucher programs is rife with advocacy masquerading as research.

Jasmine Bolton and April Callen 9/12/24 Jasmine Bolton and April Callen 9/12/24

Don’t Be Fooled By 'School Choice.' It’s a Trojan Horse for Privatizing Education.

Since 2023, state legislators across America have introduced more than 200 bills to create or expand private school vouchers, using taxpayer funds to reimburse families who choose to send their children to private schools. Supporters of vouchers claim they promote “school choice” or even promote equity. The reality is they drain crucially needed resources from public education, the only system enshrined in all 50 states’ constitutions and committed to educating all students, regardless of abilities, economic circumstances, race, religion, gender or special needs.

Casey Tolan, Rene Marsh and Nelli Black, 6/19/24 Casey Tolan, Rene Marsh and Nelli Black, 6/19/24

Arizona is sending taxpayer money to religious schools — and billionaires see it as a model for the US

A CNN investigation found that the program has cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than anticipated, disproportionately benefited richer areas, and funneled taxpayer funds to unregulated private schools that don’t face the same educational standards and antidiscrimination protections that public schools do. Since Arizona’s expanded program took effect in 2022, according to state data, it has sent nearly $2 million to Dream City and likely sapped millions of dollars from Paradise Valley’s budget.

Catherine Caruso 5/24/24 Catherine Caruso 5/24/24

Pennsylvania Taxpayers Are Funding Discriminatory Religious Schools

In Pennsylvania, as anywhere else in America, private schools can do pretty much whatever they want. They can refuse to accept disabled or LGBTQ applicants. They can expel students for getting pregnant and even for merely having LGBTQ friends outside of school. At the same time, they can require applicants’ families to attend church, not to mention teach students that God created the universe in six days.

Public Funds Public Schools and Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy 1/15/24 Public Funds Public Schools and Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy 1/15/24

The Dangers of Private School Vouchers for Idaho Students, Schools, and Communities

This report by Public Funds Public Schools (PFPS) and the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy (the Center) explains why Idaho policymakers must continue to reject proposals for private school vouchers and instead invest in the state’s underfunded public education system, which serves the vast majority of children.

Pastors for Texas Children 1/8/24 Pastors for Texas Children 1/8/24

Voucher Talking Points

Pastors for Texas Children developed this one-pager with anti-voucher arguments.

Network for Public Education 12/22/23 Network for Public Education 12/22/23

Toolkit: School Privatization Explained

The Network for Public Education Toolkit: School Privatization Explained was first created in 2017 to alert the general public regarding the various forms that privatization takes and the consequences associated with each. We’ve updated the toolkit to ensure the information is up-to-date. This toolkit presents evidence of what we already know about charters, vouchers and other forms of privatization. It is organized around key questions, providing answers in clear language to the questions we at NPE are most often asked.

National Education Association 12/22/23 National Education Association 12/22/23

Telling the Real Story on School Voucher Programs Rapid Response Memo

Opponents of public schools have pushed forward with another attack on children’s freedom to learn. This time, some elected officials are threatening to rip funds from students via school voucher programs to bankroll private schools for the wealthy and hide their refusal to fully fund public schools and ensure that every child from the big cities to small towns has a neighborhood school where they can learn, grow and thrive.

Pastors for Texas Children 12/22/23 Pastors for Texas Children 12/22/23

Conversation Points With Clergy

This toolkit includes talking points and fact sheets from anti-voucher arguments to the imperative of faith/school leader partnership.

National Coalition for Public Education 12/22/23 National Coalition for Public Education 12/22/23

Opposing Private School Vouchers:A Toolkit for Legislators and Advocates

This toolkit is designed as a resource to help legislators and pro-public education advocates oppose attempts to create new or expand existing private school voucher programs.

In recent years, a network of anti-public-education politicians and lobbying groups has been emboldened in its push for private school vouchers. Billionaires like the DeVoses, including former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Kochs, and the Waltons are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on these campaigns. These funders are using their war chests to lobby for voucher bills in state legislatures, contribute to the political campaigns of pro-voucher candidates, and seed astroturf petition drives to put vouchers on the ballot.

The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23 The Parents' Campaign Research and Education Fund 12/22/23

School Choice Myth 2 Graphic

The Parents’ Campaign Research and Education Fund School Choice Myth 2 Graphic

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