ALL RESOURCES

FILTER BY TAG

FILTER BY AUTHOR

Select an author
The People Have Spoken: Private School Vouchers Have A Long Track Record Of Failure At The Ballot Box

The People Have Spoken: Private School Vouchers Have A Long Track Record Of Failure At The Ballot Box

Voters in Arizona in November rejected a plan to expand private-school vouchers in the state by 65 to 35 percent. The lopsided results might have been a surprise to school-voucher boosters, but they shouldn’t have been. Vouchers and other forms of private-school aid plans have been getting trounced at the ballot box since 1967.

Read More
These former senators‘urge Nebraskans to voterepeal on Measure 435’
Bills Legislation and Litigation Greg Adams, Kathy Campbell, Al Davis, Curt Friesen, Mike Gloor, John McCollister, Paul Schumacher, John Stinner, and Matt Williams Bills Legislation and Litigation Greg Adams, Kathy Campbell, Al Davis, Curt Friesen, Mike Gloor, John McCollister, Paul Schumacher, John Stinner, and Matt Williams

These former senators‘urge Nebraskans to voterepeal on Measure 435’

We cannot afford to fund two school systems — both our public system and a private system — especially when one has such little accountability or measurable return on investment. Programs like this have decimated budgets in state after state, and we believe Nebraskans demand more responsible decisions be made with their tax dollars.

Read More
Voters Across the Political Spectrum Gave Public Education Important Wins in the 2024 Election
Bills Legislation and Litigation Jeff Bryant Bills Legislation and Litigation Jeff Bryant

Voters Across the Political Spectrum Gave Public Education Important Wins in the 2024 Election

School voucher programs, elaborate schemes that give parents taxpayer money to fund their children’s private school tuition, had an especially bad day at the ballot box. Voters rejected these schemes despite their popularity with Trump, who many experts say will likely make a federal voucher program a priority in his upcoming administration.

Read More
Opinion: Trinity won't let me write about Amendment 2. Here's why I'm against it.

Opinion: Trinity won't let me write about Amendment 2. Here's why I'm against it.

I’m a “private school kid.” I went to St. Francis of Assisi for first through eighth grades, and I am now a senior at Trinity High School. I will always be indebted to those schools for providing me with fantastic educations and experiences in the most formative years of my life. But to say I am disappointed with Trinity’s stance on Amendment 2 — a Kentucky ballot measure that would allow public tax funding to be used for private schools — would be an understatement.

Read More
A Supreme Court Decision on Oklahoma Catholic Charter School Case Could Transform Public Education in Pennsylvania, and Across the Country - Bucks County Beacon
Bills Legislation and Litigation Peter Greene Bills Legislation and Litigation Peter Greene

A Supreme Court Decision on Oklahoma Catholic Charter School Case Could Transform Public Education in Pennsylvania, and Across the Country - Bucks County Beacon

Oklahoma officials have petitioned the Supreme Court to hear an appeal on a case that challenges the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school. Should SCOTUS agree to hear the case and then decide in favor of the school, it could change how we do public education in Pennsylvania and the rest of this country.

Read More
Voucher Boondoggle: House Advances Plan to Give the Wealthy $1.20 for Every $1 They Steer to Private K-12 Schools

Voucher Boondoggle: House Advances Plan to Give the Wealthy $1.20 for Every $1 They Steer to Private K-12 Schools

While there was never any question as to whether the committee’s majority supported private school vouchers, this is the first time they have gone on the record specifically endorsing the kind of profitable tax shelter embedded in many voucher programs. As we learned yesterday, most of the House Ways & Means Committee is content to facilitate new forms of wasteful tax avoidance if doing so aids the cause of funneling more public resources into private K-12 schools.

Read More
The Dark Money Defunding Rural Schools
Undermining Public Education Maurice Cunnningham Undermining Public Education Maurice Cunnningham

The Dark Money Defunding Rural Schools

Eleven states now have universal school voucher laws, with the harm falling especially hard on rural schools. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school choice program. In November 2023, when Politico tweeted out its story, “GOP states are embracing vouchers. Wealthy parents are benefitting.,” Corey DeAngelis, DeVos’s privatization point man, responded, “Fantastic.”

Read More
Just How Bad Is the ‘Educational Choice’ Bill in Congress that Trump Is Expected to Support?
Bills Legislation and Litigation Peter Greene Bills Legislation and Litigation Peter Greene

Just How Bad Is the ‘Educational Choice’ Bill in Congress that Trump Is Expected to Support?

If passed, the ECCA will fund vouchers through a tax credit system. Contributors (which the bill refers to as “any taxpayer”) will donate money to a 501(3)(c) scholarship granting organization (SGO), which in turn awards the money as vouchers to families. The families may then use the money for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition. Contributors then receive a dollar-for-dollar credit on their federal tax bill of up to $5,000 or 10 percent of their gross income—whichever is greater.

Read More
How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education
Draining Funds From Public Education Alec MacGillis Draining Funds From Public Education Alec MacGillis

How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education

The center had played a key role in bringing about one of the most dramatic expansions of private-school vouchers in the country, making it possible for all Ohio families—even the richest among them—to receive public money to pay for their children’s tuition. In the mid-nineteen-nineties, Ohio became the second state to offer vouchers, but in those days they were available only in Cleveland and were billed as a way for disadvantaged children to escape struggling schools. Now the benefits extend to more than a hundred and fifty thousand students across the state, costing taxpayers nearly a billion dollars, the vast majority of which goes to the Catholic and evangelical institutions that dominate the private-school landscape there.

Read More
Inside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s support for private school vouchers
Draining Funds From Public Education Stephen Caruso, Angela Couloumbis, and Katie Meyer Draining Funds From Public Education Stephen Caruso, Angela Couloumbis, and Katie Meyer

Inside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s support for private school vouchers

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is being eyed as a potential Democratic vice presidential nominee, but with that attention has come intense scrutiny of his support for a traditionally conservative idea: taxpayer-funded private school vouchers.

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

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.

Read More
Conservatives Go to War — Against Each Other — Over School Vouchers
Undermining Public Education Alec MacGillis Undermining Public Education Alec MacGillis

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.

Read More