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Carl Davis 1/24/25 Carl Davis 1/24/25

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.

Joanna LeFebvre 1/24/25 Joanna LeFebvre 1/24/25

States Should Bolster, Not Undermine, Education Gains Made with ESSER Funds

Over half of states divert public dollars away from public schools to private schools through school vouchers. In 2024, 14 states enacted new, or expanded existing, school voucher programs, and Colorado and Kentucky are considering legalizing school vouchers through ballot measures. For example, Florida will spend almost $4 billion on its school voucher program this year, an amount that could easily replace Florida’s total annual ESSER loss if invested in public, rather than private, schools.

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

South Carolina Supreme Court Strikes Down Unconstitutional Private School Vouchers

In a major victory for public school students in South Carolina—and across the country—the South Carolina Supreme Court has struck down the private school voucher program enacted by the State Legislature in 2023.

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.

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

More Momwashing For Privatization

The parenting bubble for anti-public ed activism is really expanding.

Jeanne Allen's Center for Education Reform has just rolled out the Parent Power Index! It assigns arbitrary values measures three vaguely defined qualities-- choice programs, charter schools, and innovation-- and gives each state a letter grade. There's nothing new being quantified here, just the same old anti-public school, anti-union wine in new parentified wineskins

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.

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.

Joshua Cowen 9/12/24 Joshua Cowen 9/12/24

How Do Vouchers Defund Public Schools? Four Warnings and One Big Takeaway

Over the past two years, school voucher systems and other related schemes that divert taxpayer revenue toward private K-12 tuition have passed state legislatures at unprecedented rates. Although these recent bills became law only, for the most part, in red states, their supporters include a handful of Democrats in other parts of the country as well. And all of this comes despite a decade of evidence that vouchers have led to some of the steepest declines in student achievement on record.

Joanna LeFebvre 6/4/24 Joanna LeFebvre 6/4/24

States Should Reverse Course on Defunding Public Education Through Private School Vouchers and Property Tax Cuts

During this year’s legislative sessions, at least one in three states are considering or have enacted school voucher expansions alongside broad, untargeted property tax cuts. Over half of states have already enacted deep personal and corporate income tax cuts in the last three years. These policies will result in under-resourced public schools, worse student outcomes, and, over time, weaker communities.

Hilary Wething and Josh Bivens 5/24/24 Hilary Wething and Josh Bivens 5/24/24

Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for all

Since the early 2000s, many states have introduced significant voucher programs to provide public financing for private school education. These voucher programs are deeply damaging to efforts to offer an excellent public education for all U.S. children—and this is in fact often the intention of those pushing these programs.

Public Funds Public Schools 5/3/24 Public Funds Public Schools 5/3/24

Private School Vouchers: Diversion of Public Funds Through Expanded 529 Plans

This is the fifth and final part in our series, Private School Vouchers: Analysis of 2020 Legislative Sessions. This annual PFPS analysis provides an overview of proposed voucher legislation nationwide and deeper dives on key states and issues. Read the first, second, third, and fourth parts.