January 2025

Written By Jennifer Kotting

Spotlight on Federal Voucher Legislation

President Trump’s campaign promises and statements on expanding school choice and his nomination of Education Secretary Linda McMahon suggest that federal voucher legislation will be a top priority during his administration. Lawmakers have proposed federal voucher legislation in the past to varying degrees of success. Last session, federal voucher legislation, H.R. 9462, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), advanced out of committee for the first time. It did not pass, but it is likely to be attached to the budget reconciliation bill that is expected to begin moving through Congress this March. The legislation would create a four-year pilot to funnel dollars to private and religious schools through Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) allowing tax breaks to wealthy donors. This program is projected to result in more than $20 billion in lost tax revenue, and the Senate version could cost over $100 billion, reducing the public funds available for public schools dramatically. Further, there would be no government oversight or requirements that schools adhere to federal civil rights law. Read more about the legislation, other proposals and ways you can get involved through our Trump Administration Play-by-Play 2025 & Beyond here.

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Spotlight (Major Themes)

  • Religious Extremism:  The First Amendment of the United States Constitution outlines the separation of church and state. Many researchers and authors identified how voucher programs clearly defy this requirement by allowing public tax payer dollars to go to private religious schools. Arizona was the first state to allow all students to use vouchers at religious or secular private schools.  Ohio voucher advocates engaged in a decades-long effort strategically starting with a small program for low-income students. Now they have created a separate religious schooling system that spends billions of public dollars on renovating buildings and classrooms to attract more students. Ultimately, these programs do not serve all students and even openly discriminate against LGBTQ+ students.

  • Fiscal Impact: There are many ways school voucher programs drain funds from public schools and have even expanded to the point of blowing up state budgets. In Florida vouchers are estimated to cost almost $4 billion despite the fact that seven out of ten students that took a voucher were already enrolled in private schools.  Furthermore, because public schools have fixed costs (i.e. heating and cooling, school buildings) as their enrollment declines schools are forced to cut critical resources like teachers, curriculum, and supplies.  To address this fiscal impact policymakers, advocates, and communities have been  advocating for more adequate and equitable state funding and holding  private schools accountable.

  • Fraud, Waste, and Abuse: School voucher programs have little oversight and accountability so they are often rife with instances of fraud, waste, and abuse. At the national level, the proposed federal tax-credit voucher legislation allows for rampant abuse as individuals can funnel dollars through scholarship granting organizations and avoid paying taxes. State-level voucher initiatives are driven by billionaires like Betsy DeVos and Jeffrey Yass who have been targeting republican legislatures and funneling dollars into states to force voucher programs to pass.  Even when voucher programs are implemented they proliferate instances of fraud, waste, and abuse. For instance, predominantly wealthy families in Arizona were able to spend their vouchers on everything from a $4,000 grand piano to horse therapy.  Despite these expensive efforts, communities have continually pushed back through lawsuits, research, and advocacy which has successfully challenged many of these efforts. 

New Resource!

Public education has long been under attack in the U.S. Now, the players leading that attack will be directing federal education policy and they have not hidden their plans for public schools. To the contrary, they’ve published them for everyone to see. This Administration Play-by-Play looks under the hood of those plans to explore how President Trump and his appointees might accomplish their goals.

Small Wins

  • Ballot Initiatives: During the November elections, voters in three more states soundly rejected efforts to create a statewide voucher program. In Kentucky, voters rejected by a margin of 65% to 35% a ballot initiative that would have allowed public funds to go to private schools. The initiative failed in every county. In Nebraska, 57% of voters opted to repeal an existing voucher program. The measure failed in almost every county. Finally, voters in Colorado defeated an attempt to add language to the State Constitution that might have allowed parents to use public funds to send their children to private schools.  When given the opportunity to decide, voters continue to consistently reject voucher programs.

  • South Carolina: Last September, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down a private school voucher program that had been enacted by the South Carolina State Legislature in 2023. The South Carolina Supreme Court determined that the legislation directed public funds to private schools in violation of the state constitution. In prohibiting the use of voucher funds to cover tuition or fees for private schools, the Court also rejected the State’s efforts to circumvent South Carolina’s clear constitutional mandate by funneling public funds to private schools through third parties, such as independent fund administrators or families themselves. 

How to Get Involved

We need everyone to be involved in our fight for public education. Please check out our menu of resources that provide an easy entry-point and are categorized to meet your needs! 

Our co-creators are also curating voucher relateds resources. Please check out their newsletters here: 

Jennifer Kotting
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September 2024