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Grand Canyon Institute 7/22/25 Grand Canyon Institute 7/22/25

ESA Voucher Fraud Case Including Fake Children Raises Integrity Concerns About Universal Vouchers

On Monday, Dec. 2, news broke that an out-of-state couple were indicted for defrauding the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) universal voucher program, by submitting applications for 50 children, 43 of whom do not exist, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider 7/22/25 Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider 7/22/25

#191 These Conservative Texans Oppose School Vouchers

Vouchers are not conservative. That’s what we heard again and again when we talked to Texans who consider themselves Republicans but oppose their party’s top education priority. We hear from rural Texans who are taking the attacks on their local schools very personally, and business minded Republicans who fear the consequences of privatizing education for workforce development. But the real lesson in this episode is political. The big money push to expand school vouchers, and expel voucher opponents, is spurring rising discontent within the ranks of the Republican party, including among some of Trump’s staunchest supporters.

Jennifer Berkshire 7/22/25 Jennifer Berkshire 7/22/25

Trump’s Education Agenda Is a Big Vulnerability

Donald Trump is pushing an elite-driven school privatization project that is deeply unpopular with his base. It offers a golden political opportunity for Democrats, if only they would seize it.

Scott Ploof 7/22/25 Scott Ploof 7/22/25

The Billionaire Backers of Louisiana’s Voucher Push: Who’s Funding the Privatization of Public Education?

The fight over Louisiana’s public schools isn’t just playing out in classrooms—it’s playing out in boardrooms, campaign finance reports, and legislative backrooms. With the state preparing to launch the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) Scholarship Program in the 2025–2026 school year, the future of public education in Louisiana is being reshaped by powerful national forces and influential local reformers.

Joshua Cowen 7/22/25 Joshua Cowen 7/22/25

The Private Eye

Researcher Josh Cowen has developed a newsletter alongside Public Funds Public Schools on school vouchers and right-wing politics.

Jeff Bryant 1/24/25 Jeff Bryant 1/24/25

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.

National Education Policy Center 1/24/25 National Education Policy Center 1/24/25

The Fiscal Impacts of Expanded Voucher Programs and Charter-School Growth on Public Schools: Recommendations for Sustaining Adequate and Equitable School Finance Systems

The U.S. Department of Education has projected enrollment declines over the next decade, leading to budget cuts for school districts, which will be particularly impactful in urban and rural areas serving vulnerable students. As federal COVID-19 funds expire, districts will face challenges in cutting costs, potentially leading to layoffs or school closures. Meanwhile, many states have expanded voucher programs and charter schools, diverting funds from public schools despite limited enrollment growth. Research shows these shifts harm traditional public school financing. To address this, policymakers must ensure equitable funding for public schools and hold charter and private schools to the same standards as public ones.

Rowan Moore Geretsy 1/24/25 Rowan Moore Geretsy 1/24/25

No-Limit Vouchers Are Blowing Up Arizona’s Budget. This Woman Is Leading the Way.

Since Arizona passed its universal voucher bill in 2022, eight more states have followed suit: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Indiana expanded existing voucher programs. Arkansas, Alabama, Iowa and Utah joined West Virginia, whose Hope scholarship program began in 2021, in creating new programs set to become universal. Clark’s Love Your School AZ has expanded to Alabama and West Virginia, and Clark has started a series of related groups to bolster the national ecosystem supporting school vouchers. She’s also become one of the movement’s key messengers, aided by the prestige of an appointment to the Arizona board of education, and the most visible antagonist of the state’s public school advocates.

Eli Hager 1/24/25 Eli Hager 1/24/25

Failing charter school closed by Az regulators reopened as a taxpayer-funded private religious school

Arizona does no vetting of new voucher schools. Not even if the school or the online school “provider” has already failed, or was founded yesterday, or is operating out of a strip mall or a living room or a garage, or offers just a half hour of instruction per morning. (If you’re an individual tutor in Arizona, all you need in order to register to start accepting voucher cash is a high school diploma.)

Maurice Cunnningham 1/24/25 Maurice Cunnningham 1/24/25

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.”

Jason Bailey 1/24/25 Jason Bailey 1/24/25

Kentucky Voters Buried Private School Vouchers. One More Idea Must Die to Truly Reinvest in Our Public Schools

Despite the best efforts of anti-public school activists and the deep pockets of out-of-state billionaires, Kentucky voters resoundingly defeated the proposed constitutional amendment allowing public dollars to be diverted to private schools. The amendment was rejected in all 120 Kentucky counties and at the hands of a unique bipartisan coalition of rural, urban and suburban voters.

Public Funds Public Schools 1/24/25 Public Funds Public Schools 1/24/25

No Vouchers! Public Funds Are For Public Schools!

Experts including Professor Josh Cowen, ELC Senior Fellow and author of The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, and Jessica Levin, ELC Litigation Director and Director of Public Funds Public Schools, discuss the implications of Donald Trump's presidency on public schools and voucher programs.

Robert Huber 1/16/25 Robert Huber 1/16/25

Jeff Yass’s Big School Choice Gamble

They strategized over PASS, the state program that would provide vouchers to students in the lowest-performing public schools. “I needed to get Yass’s feedback,” Williams says of the program’s political viability, “because he is more in contact with Republicans than I am.

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.

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.

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.

Sasha Pudelski 9/12/24 Sasha Pudelski 9/12/24

For every $1 dollar...Graphic

Graphic on the funneling of money into private school voucher schemes by right-wing politicians to turn a profit.

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

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).

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.

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