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

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.

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States Should Reverse Course on Defunding Public Education Through Private School Vouchers and Property Tax Cuts
Draining Funds From Public Education Joanna LeFebvre Draining Funds From Public Education Joanna LeFebvre

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.

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

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. "

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Accountability in Action Hub: Voucher Transparency
Accountability Wisconsin Public Education Network Accountability Wisconsin Public Education Network

Accountability in Action Hub: Voucher Transparency

Voucher schools that use public funds for private education are not subject to the same assessment standards, teaching standards, or reporting standards as public schools; they are not overseen by publicly-elected school boards, required to hold public meetings, or subject to public records laws; they are not necessarily governed by nondiscrimination laws and are not legally required to serve students with disabilities.

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How Voucher Programs Undermine the Education Landscape in North Carolina
Undermining Public Education Kris Nordstrom, Phyllis Nunn Undermining Public Education Kris Nordstrom, Phyllis Nunn

How Voucher Programs Undermine the Education Landscape in North Carolina

In 2023, North Carolina lawmakers went all-in on vouchers. Via changes incorporated in the 2023 budget bill, North Carolina became the tenth state with a universal voucher program, one in which all private school students are eligible for state-funded subsidies regardless of their family income.

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Dark Money Vouchers Are Having a Moment

Dark Money Vouchers Are Having a Moment

Over the past 12 months, the decades-long push to divert tax dollars toward religious education has reached new heights. As proclaimed by EdChoice—the advocacy group devoted to school vouchers—2023 has been the year these schemes reached “escape velocity.” In strictly legislative terms, seven states passed new voucher systems, and ten more expanded existing versions. Ten states now run eleven universal voucher programs, all of which have no meaningful income or other restrictions.

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Research on school vouchers suggests concerns ahead for education savings accounts

Research on school vouchers suggests concerns ahead for education savings accounts

Private school choice is having quite a moment. Whether structured as traditional school vouchers paying direct appropriations for private tuition, scholarships funded by redirected state income tax liabilities, or as new education savings accounts (ESAs), the use of public funds for private schooling has never been more prominent. In 2023 alone, seven states passed new programs and nine expanded existing plans. This push is largely a red state phenomenon. Of the new or expanded private choice states, all but two went for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

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Kentucky House passes a bill aimed at putting a school choice constitutional amendment on the ballot
Undermining Public Education Bruce Schreiner Undermining Public Education Bruce Schreiner

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.

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Pennsylvania Taxpayers Are Funding Discriminatory Religious Schools
Discrimination Catherine Caruso Discrimination Catherine Caruso

Pennsylvania Taxpayers Are Funding Discriminatory Religious Schools

In Pennsylvania, as anywhere else in America, private schools can do pretty much whatever they want. They can refuse to accept disabled or LGBTQ applicants. They can expel students for getting pregnant and even for merely having LGBTQ friends outside of school. At the same time, they can require applicants’ families to attend church, not to mention teach students that God created the universe in six days.

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School Vouchers Have A Transparency Problem
Accountability Peter Greene Accountability Peter Greene

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.

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