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Stephen Caruso, Angela Couloumbis, and Katie Meyer 9/12/24 Stephen Caruso, Angela Couloumbis, and Katie Meyer 9/12/24

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.

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.

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.

Zack Carreon, WVXU, Kendall Crawford 9/12/24 Zack Carreon, WVXU, Kendall Crawford 9/12/24

School voucher use has exploded. Some Ohio families can't take part

School vouchers have exploded in use in Ohio since last summer when the state legislature made all families, regardless of their income level, eligible for the private school scholarships.

Maurice Cunnningham 9/12/24 Maurice Cunnningham 9/12/24

How the Right Exploits ‘Moms’ to Privatize Education

Moms are allegedly at the center of a rightwing campaign attacking public schools and advocating for school vouchers. The latest entry in the “moms space” is called Moms on a Mission, which the organization’s website reveals is an offshoot of the Betsy DeVos-controlled American Federation for Children (AFC).

Griffin Coop and Benjamin Hardy 9/12/24 Griffin Coop and Benjamin Hardy 9/12/24

Jim Walton gives $500K to defend Arkansas school vouchers from ballot measure

Walmart heir and Arvest Bank CEO Jim Walton donated $500,000 last month to a group working to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment on K-12 education, according to documents filed this week with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Jeff Bryant 9/12/24 Jeff Bryant 9/12/24

Two Visions of a Populist Education System

When pundits describe the current political zeitgeist as a drift toward “populism,” they’re generally trying to convince you that something very bad is going on. But it’s important to understand that populism, a term that basically means the will of the people, can swing both ways. Nowhere is this more obvious than in education policy and politics

Joe Dana 9/12/24 Joe Dana 9/12/24

They’re trying to destroy public ed': AZ superintendent unleashes frustration about misinformation concerning public school system

School superintendents typically don’t air their political grievances in public. They prefer to work behind-the-scenes with lobbyists on issues that affect their schools. But the superintendent of a prominent Arizona district is not holding back.

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.

Laura Meckler and Michelle Boorstein 6/4/24 Laura Meckler and Michelle Boorstein 6/4/24

Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers

Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.

Yesica Balderrama 6/3/24 Yesica Balderrama 6/3/24

A brief history of Wisconsin’s voucher school system: Less effective and more expensive than promised.

"It’s the $700 million answer to the question, “Why are Wisconsin taxpayers seeing a record number of school referendums?”

Voucher-funded schools. The once-small, Milwaukee-only experiment three decades ago is now a program that funds around 400 private, mostly religious schools in a “parental choice” program that has proven to be no better—and in some ways worse—than had those billions of dollars been invested in public schools. "

Bruce Schreiner 5/24/24 Bruce Schreiner 5/24/24

Kentucky House passes a bill aimed at putting a school choice constitutional amendment on the ballot

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Supporters of letting Kentucky voters decide the outcome of a school choice constitutional amendment cleared a key hurdle Wednesday when the state House gave its support, after a tense debate that could foreshadow a bruising campaign ahead if the proposal reaches the ballot.

Sam Stockard 5/24/24 Sam Stockard 5/24/24

Conservative groups stand in way of Tennessee governor’s private-school vouchers

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Republican leaders — predicting passage of a private-school voucher bill in 2025 — will have to outflank conservative groups as well as opponents such as the Tennessee Education Association.

Peter Greene 5/24/24 Peter Greene 5/24/24

School Vouchers Have A Transparency Problem

Pennsylvania has had a pair of tax credit scholarship school voucher programs (Educational Improvement Tax Credits (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credits (OSTC)) for over twenty years, leaving a $2 billion hole in state revenues. One might think that taxpayers, or those accountable to taxpayers, would want to know how exactly that $2 billion has been used.

Paul Hammel 5/24/24 Paul Hammel 5/24/24

State lawmakers pass updated ‘Opportunity Scholarship’ bill

LINCOLN — Nebraska lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to an updated bill that will devote $10 million a year in state funds for scholarships to attend K-12 private or parochial schools.

Patrick Darrington 5/24/24 Patrick Darrington 5/24/24

CHOOSE Act passes legislature, awaits Ivey’s signature today

The Republican supermajority gave final passage in the Senate to Alabama’s school choice legislation as it now awaits signature from Gov. Kay Ivey.The bill, the CHOOSE Act, was passed 23-9 after apparent pressure from the governor’s office because Ivey has stated school choice is a top priority. The bill would create an education savings account, ESA, for $7,000 to help parents pay for the cost to send their children to private schools primarily.

Laura Pappano 5/24/24 Laura Pappano 5/24/24

The Heroes Fighting for Public Education

The first thing to reflect on is this: Public schools gather everyone. All are invited. There is no test you need to pass, no amount of money or influence or fame you must possess to be allowed in. Do you know how rare that is in the United States today?

Jamie Klinenberg, Jon Valant, and Nicolas Zerbino 5/24/24 Jamie Klinenberg, Jon Valant, and Nicolas Zerbino 5/24/24

Arizona’s ‘universal’ education savings account program has become a handout to the wealthy

Amid a wave of legislation that created or expanded private-school choice programs across the country, Robert Enlow, the President/CEO of EdChoice, dubbed 2023 as “the year of universal choice.” Enlow wasn’t wrong. Universal eligibility is the defining trend in recent private school choice reforms. For decades, private-school choice programs (like vouchers) provided funds only to certain families—e.g., families with low household income or a child with a disability. Recently, however, Republican lawmakers have created or expanded private-school choice programs to allow nearly all students, regardless of their individual need, access to public funding to attend private schools.

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