ALL RESOURCES

FILTER BY TAG

FILTER BY AUTHOR

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.

Eli Hager 9/12/24 Eli Hager 9/12/24

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.

Paige Masten 9/12/24 Paige Masten 9/12/24

NC voucher fallout: We’re all paying for pricey private schools. It’ll get worse

Charlotte Christian School states on its website that all families applying for financial assistance for the 2024-25 school year must also apply to North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program. The same is true of Trinity Academy in Raleigh, North Raleigh Christian Academy and many other schools in the state that accept voucher payments.

Jason Bailey, Dustin Pugel, Joanna LeFebvre, and Pam Thomas 9/12/24 Jason Bailey, Dustin Pugel, Joanna LeFebvre, and Pam Thomas 9/12/24

The Impact of Diverting Public Money to Private School Vouchers in Kentucky

The Kentucky General Assembly enacted a private school voucher program in 2021 and legislation was filed to expand the program before the state Supreme Court struck it down for violating Kentucky’s constitution. That decision led directly to the legislature putting Amendment 2 on the ballot. Similar states that lack Kentucky’s constitutional protections for public education have recently increased spending on vouchers and school privatization at a rapidly growing cost to their budgets. Given that history and context, it is plausible to assume the legislature will pursue a similar path if voters approve the amendment.

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.

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.

Emily Walkenhorst 9/12/24 Emily Walkenhorst 9/12/24

Deal to expand private school vouchers falls apart as NC lawmakers wind down session

An effort to expand a North Carolina program that uses taxpayer dollars to send students to private school collapsed in the statehouse as lawmakers drew the short legislative session to a close on Thursday.

Republican leaders of the state House and Senate had hoped to expand the Opportunity Scholarships program and had earmarked more than $460 million for the program in separate budget proposals. But negotiations fell apart between the chambers as they tried to figure out how to spend a $1 billion surplus.

Michelle Harven 9/12/24 Michelle Harven 9/12/24

School choice vouchers are on the rise. Do they work?

School voucher programs vary from state to state, with about 30 currently participating in one form or another. Generally, they provide families with taxpayer dollars to use for private school tuition. While some school choice policies are designed for lower-income families or students with disabilities, more states are passing legislation to include all families.

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.

Zack Carreon, WVXU, Kendall Crawford 9/12/24 Zack Carreon, WVXU, Kendall Crawford 9/12/24

School voucher use has exploded. Some Ohio families can't take part

School vouchers have exploded in use in Ohio since last summer when the state legislature made all families, regardless of their income level, eligible for the private school scholarships.

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).

Ethan Dewitt 9/12/24 Ethan Dewitt 9/12/24

School voucher program added to budget Also: Republican tax cuts stay intact

A controversial proposal to allow New Hampshire parents to use public funds for private school tuition will move ahead next month, after the Senate Finance Committee added the program to the state budget.

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.

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.

Jeff Bryant 9/12/24 Jeff Bryant 9/12/24

Two Visions of a Populist Education System

When pundits describe the current political zeitgeist as a drift toward “populism,” they’re generally trying to convince you that something very bad is going on. But it’s important to understand that populism, a term that basically means the will of the people, can swing both ways. Nowhere is this more obvious than in education policy and politics

Jessica Corbett 9/12/24 Jessica Corbett 9/12/24

This Ain't It': Pennsylvanians Slam Jay-Z's Roc Nation for School Voucher Push

Vouchers emerged in the United States as a tool to combat public As pro-public education groups plan a rally at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, educators and advocates on Friday criticized hip-hop icon Jay-Z's company Roc Nation over a campaign backing a proposed school voucher program in the commonwealth.

The campaign's "Dine & Learn" events in Philadelphia this month are intended to share information about the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) or "Lifelife Scholarships," as supporters also call them. If approved by state legislators in the next budget, the program would put tax dollars toward "education opportunity accounts" for certain families to send their children to K-12 private schools rather than low-performing public ones.

Jim Collier 9/12/24 Jim Collier 9/12/24

Ohio’s expanded vouchers are bleeding public schools that often outperform the private schools that benefit

Vouchers emerged in the United States as a tool to combat public school integration in southern states following the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Led by Virginia, state legislatures provided public funds for white students to attend private schools — often referred to as “segregation academies.”

A new era of vouchers rebranded as “school choice” has swept the country in recent years, including Ohio, resurrecting segregation academies on wealth and racial lines.

Jasmine Bolton and April Callen 9/12/24 Jasmine Bolton and April Callen 9/12/24

Don’t Be Fooled By 'School Choice.' It’s a Trojan Horse for Privatizing Education.

Since 2023, state legislators across America have introduced more than 200 bills to create or expand private school vouchers, using taxpayer funds to reimburse families who choose to send their children to private schools. Supporters of vouchers claim they promote “school choice” or even promote equity. The reality is they drain crucially needed resources from public education, the only system enshrined in all 50 states’ constitutions and committed to educating all students, regardless of abilities, economic circumstances, race, religion, gender or special needs.

ALL RESOURCES

FILTER BY TAG

FILTER BY AUTHOR

Partnering Organizations