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Stop Vouchers Webpage
Texas Governor Abbott called a special legislative session in October 2023 to press legislators to establish Texas’ first-ever private school voucher program, funded by all Texas taxpayers. Instead, Texas needs to invest in public schools that serve 5.4 million students and their families. The proposed voucher program would cost $500 million. Get resources here to help Texas say no to vouchers!
#SCHOOLVOUCHER SCAM$
Our Voucher School Scam$ page, which we began in September of 2023 in response to the recent flood of irresponsible universal voucher programs includes a sorting feature that allows you to search charter scandals by state and by 12 categories. You can also search by keyword. Just use the ‘X’ to clear search terms and return to the full list of scandals.
The Truth About ESA Vouchers
This webpage from Save Our Schools Arizona provides resources, videos, and fact sheets about Arizona’s ESA voucher program.
Lawmakers Refuse to Adopt School Vouchers, For Now
One of the primary concerns during the Texas legislative session was Governor Greg Abbott’s pressure to pass private school vouchers by establishing education savings accounts. Proponents argued that vouchers would empower parents while ignoring all that parents and their children would lose. IDRA and other organizations and individuals expressed concerns about the negative impact vouchers would have on families, public schools and communities (IDRA, 2023; Latham Sikes, April 11, 2023a). Vouchers would divert crucial funds away from already underfunded public schools, exacerbating funding inequities and leaving some students without essential resources (PFPS, 2023).
Public Funds Public Schools Research Page
This webpage from Public Funds Public Schools is a useful tool for policy makers to filter through research on school voucher programs.
Litigation Public Funds Public Schools
Private school voucher programs raise a number of legal issues, and many have faced court challenges. Voucher programs may violate a state constitution's education clause, including a state's obligation to adequately fund public schools or to provide a uniform system of public schools, and other important state constitutional protections.
Voucher lawsuits have also been based on violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as state constitutional provisions, known as Blaine Amendments or no-aid clauses, that prohibit public funding of religious institutions. Other voucher lawsuits have focused on students' civil rights guarantees.
The DC Voucher
The National Coalition for Public Education has developed an in-depth summary of the DC Voucher program which tracks legislation and includes summaries and links to sources.
Public Funds Public Schools Bill Tracker
The PFPS bill tracker monitors all 50 states and the U.S. Congress for proposed legislation that creates, expands, or modifies private school voucher programs. Use the tracker to search for bills by number or keyword or to filter by state, year, and/or PFPS-assigned categories.
2023-24 Voucher Legislation
The National Coalition for Public Education has developed a legislation tracker which includes bill summaries and links to sources.
Tell your legislator it's "game over" for Illinois' voucher program!
Illinois Families for Public Schools is calling for the Invest in Kids program to end permanently, along with more than 50 other state and local organizations. Vouchers harm the public good in a variety of ways: they violate the fundamental principle of the separation of church and state. They divert public dollars from our already underfunded Illinois public schools. Research shows that they do not improve academic outcomes for children who receive vouchers. And we know that voucher schools in Illinois are discriminating on the basis of religion, disability status, LGBTQ+ status and more---that's not what education equity looks like!
Tell NC Lawmakers: Time to Deliver the Funding Our Children are Owed!
While the Leandro plan remains unfunded, legislators are proposing another round of income tax cuts for the wealthy and a massive expansion of the current private school voucher programs. These programs will disproportionately benefit wealthy families while hampering opportunities for families living in poverty.
PEER Review of Vouchers: Fraud, Lack of Accountability; Unspent Funds
Mississippi’s PEER* Committee issues a report of the state’s ESA voucher program, which uses public funds to pay private school tuition for children with special needs.
School Choice: Myth vs. Truth
The Parents’ Campaign Research and Education Fund provides a myth vs. truth about the impact of school voucher programs.
Achievement Impact of Private School Vouchers
The Parents’ Campaign Research and Education Fund provides a state by state snapshot on voucher programs impact on student achievement.
Mississippi Voucher ESA Program
The Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act became law in 2015, establishing Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA) vouchers. The ESA voucher program allows Mississippi parents to use state funds to pay private school tuition for children with special needs. Initially, eligibility was limited to students who had an active IEP within the past 18 months; it was later expanded to students who had an active IEP within the past five years. The Legislature’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) Committee issued a highly critical report on the program in December of 2018.
PA’s EITC and OSTC Training Module
Education Voters of Pennsylvania developed a series of modules on school funding topics for advocates. The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) module includes a video, handouts, activities and a mini quiz to check for understanding and certify your completion of the course. Most should take less than ½ hour to complete and you can work at your own pace.
Taxpayer Funded Vouchers
Pennsylvania has two programs that provide students with taxpayer-funded vouchers to private and religious schools: the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs. Since their inception in 2001, the EITC and OSTC programs have provided more than $2 billion in taxpayer-funded support for school vouchers.
In 2022-2023 the EITC and OSTC programs will provide $340 million to private scholarship organizations, which award tuition vouchers to families whose children attend private and religious schools.