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What You Need to Know About the National Private School Voucher Proposal
Bills Legislation and Litigation May Roberts at Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy Bills Legislation and Litigation May Roberts at Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy

What You Need to Know About the National Private School Voucher Proposal

School vouchers allow families to use public funds to pay for their children’s private school tuition. School voucher programs enacted across the country – using tax credits, grants, and savings accounts to divert public funding to pay for private education – have consistently demonstrated that states with voucher programs tend to expand the programs over time. These expansions dramatically increase the amount of public funds diverted to private education while state investments in public education remain stagnant or decrease. Despite the numerous negative consequences of using publicly funded vouchers to pay for K-12 private education expenses,1 policy makers across the country continue to propose similar programs.

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Parents and Allies Oppose National Private School Voucher Program
Bills Legislation and Litigation American Federation for Teachers and the National Coalition for Public Education Bills Legislation and Litigation American Federation for Teachers and the National Coalition for Public Education

Parents and Allies Oppose National Private School Voucher Program

Policymakers join parents, students, educators and allies to discuss how the national private school voucher program in the budget reconciliation bill would shift resources from public schools to wealthy people and private schools.

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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.

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Oppose $20 Billion Federal Private School Voucher Program
Bills Legislation and Litigation National Coalition for Public Education Bills Legislation and Litigation National Coalition for Public Education

Oppose $20 Billion Federal Private School Voucher Program

House Republican leadership want to include a $20 billion private school voucher program in the 2025 tax-reconciliation bill. Known as the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2024 (H.R. 9462 in the 118th Congress), it would give away $5 billion per year for each of the next four years of federal taxpayer dollars to fund private school vouchers. Instead of directing resources to the public schools that 90% of American children attend, vouchers divert critical federal dollars to students already attending private schools and to schools that can cherry pick which students they want to educate.

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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.

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Secret recording shows pressure on Republican lawmakers to vote for school vouchers
Personal Narratives Blogs Webinars Phil Williams Personal Narratives Blogs Webinars Phil Williams

Secret recording shows pressure on Republican lawmakers to vote for school vouchers

Another secret recording obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates reveals how Tennessee lawmakers are facing pressure to send your tax dollars to the state's private schools.

In the recording, the lead lobbyist for a well-financed group lobbying for school vouchers warns a reluctant lawmaker that his job could be at stake if he doesn't vote the way she wants him to vote.

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Florida’s Hidden Voucher Expansion</a>
Draining Funds From Public Education Florida Policy Institute and the Education Law Center Draining Funds From Public Education Florida Policy Institute and the Education Law Center

Florida’s Hidden Voucher Expansion

Florida receives an F on an A-F scale on all three funding metrics: funding level, funding distribution, and funding effort.

Since 2019, the flow of public funds to private education dramatically increased after the State Legislature enacted the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) program.

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Opposing Private School Vouchers:A Toolkit for Legislators and Advocates
Toolkits and Guides National Coalition for Public Education Toolkits and Guides National Coalition for Public Education

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.

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Accountability and Private School Choice</a>
Accountability National Education Policy Center Accountability National Education Policy Center

Accountability and Private School Choice

The report Accountability and Private-School Choice, released by the Manhattan Institute in October, 2021, addresses the question of how private school voucher programs should be regulated. That is, if private schools are to receive public funds, what accountability mech- anisms can fairly and reasonably safeguard taxpayer dollars? The report advocates for re- laxing accountability mechanisms that presently constrain some voucher programs, assert- ing that “more and better” private schools will participate in response, benefitting students academically. Such claims, however, are supported by a selective reading and intentional misreading of educational research. Insofar as that is the case, the report merely repeats well-worn ideological positions and neither advances what we know about the challenge of regulating private schools nor offers useful information for policy decisions.

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Public Dollars for Private Schools: 6 Recommendations for North Carolina’s School Voucher Program</a>
Accountability Public School Forum of North Carolina Accountability Public School Forum of North Carolina

Public Dollars for Private Schools: 6 Recommendations for North Carolina’s School Voucher Program

In this policy brief the Public School Forum of North Carolina provides six recommendations for North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship school voucher program. The Opportunity Scholarships program in its current or expanded form represents significant investment of taxpayer dollars to support private and parochial schools. Similar to public schools and public charter schools, private schools that receive public dollars must be held accountable to the taxpayers who fund them. Additionally, parents must have access to accurate and reliable information when making school choice decisions, and state leaders must have the data needed to effectively evaluate how private schools receiving public funds are performing and to ensure that all children are receiving a sound basic education.

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Something to Lose: How School Voucher Programs Fail to Provide Civil Rights and Constitutional Protections</a>
Discrimination Public Funds Public Schools Discrimination Public Funds Public Schools

Something to Lose: How School Voucher Programs Fail to Provide Civil Rights and Constitutional Protections

This webinar features Dr. Preston Green, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law at the University of Connecticut and the John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education at the Neag School. Dr. Green has extensive knowledge of education law and has published numerous articles and book chapters on legal and policy issues related to educational access and school privatization. Dr. Green discusses school voucher programs and how these programs fail to provide civil rights and constitutional protections to students. He also discusses protections for students participating in voucher programs.

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