Veteran journalist Andrea Gabor explains that Betsy DeVos got the Trump administration to commit fully behind her voucher obsession, rolling some 29 or 30 programs into a block grant, including the toxic federal Charter Schools Program. In exchange, the Trump administration is seeking $5 billion for national voucher program. It is certain not to be approved by Congress, but meanwhile the Supreme Court is considering a case (Espinoza v. Montana) that could eliminate all state bans on public spending for religious schools. This would have a devastating fiscal impact on public schools.
But, she warns, the voucher idea is an expensive failure and politically toxic. Based on recent electoral results, she predicts that it could blow up in the faces of Republican candidates. The overwhelming majority of American children attend public schools, including the overwhelming majority of children of Republican voters.
Despite DeVos’s enthusiastic support for vouchers, it may turn out to be a losing issue:
K-12 schooling remains a hot issue especially in local elections; thus, the combination of block grants and vouchers create a political minefield for Republican state legislators this election year. During the 2018 midterms, teachers in Kentucky helped a Democrat, Andy Beshear, defeat Republican incumbent Matt Bevin in the race for governor in a state Donald Trump had carried by 30 points.
In Wisconsin, where another pro-public education Democrat, Tony Evers, defeated Republican incumbent Governor Scott Walker, voters set recordspassing ballot measures increasing property taxes and allowing districts to exceed state-imposed revenue caps. These measures brought in an estimated $1.37 billion in additional public-school revenue.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, groups critical of public education, including ones backed by DeVos and the Koch family, chose not to campaign for a 2018 ballot measure that would have expanded the state’s voucher law when they saw it would be a losing battle. The expansion measure was resoundingly defeated following a vigorous anti-voucher campaign. And just last month, Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, unveiled a budget with close to $300 million in extra funding for Arizona public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think it was inevitable that ed reform ended up with vouchers. It only has two pillars- “choice” and “accountability” and half of them are ideologically opposed to regulation, which means the only coherent shared position they have is “choice”.
It wasn’t an accident they all ended up here.They couldn’t have ended anywhere else.
Once you redefine “public” to mean “publicly funded” it no longer makes sense to exclude any school or educational service of any kind. They already have contractors set up to offer educational “wallets”- electronic systems to disperse public funding for education to a limitless group of private contractors who will offer everything from test prep to field trips.
The eventual goal is to offer each family a means-tested fixed sum to spend on “education”. The value will be much lower than current funding for public school students, but they’ll offer subsidized lower interest loans for middle and upper middle. There won’t be any quality controls other than market forces. The current crop of ed reformers go further than Barry Goldwater’s wildest dreams.
I don’t think the public understands that ed reformers go well beyond “vouchers for private schools” to this:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona-education/2017/01/31/arizona-school-vouchers-expansion-audit/97163702/
I don’t think there’s any real understanding of how radical the “vision” is. If you thought charters were the “wild west” wait until there are thousands of fragmented educational service providers all vying for public funds on an individual contract basis. It’s already happening in the most far Right ed reform states.
I hope the pro-voucher stance of the republicans is a grenade that takes a lot of conservatives down across the states. If this issue can flip some districts, it might be finally possible to move the country forward.
For Betsy’s Voucher Obsession to become an issue to break the GOP, the Democratic candidate for president would have to focus on education as a major issue.
From what I have been reading, the only issue to focus on for the 2020 election will be Trump, because no other issue will turn out the Never Trumpers like repeatedly reminding them what it will mean if Trump win’s again.
Vouchers are the perfect historical example of how religious zealots create their gods only to serve themselves. Not the other way around.
These so called Christians are teaching their children how to lie, cheat, and steal from taxpayers to pay for their private religious schools. This proves they don’t care for their children at all: it’s for the business of their godless religion.
Just tell the taxpayer they’re funding private religious schools that their child has no chance of attending and ones that will never be teach world religions.
Not taking on religion as the #1 threat coming from charter’s schools is an affront to the signers of the Constitution.
Don’t worry, taking on religion won’t make god angry at all; just very, very pleased.
nice turn of phrase: Vouchers are the perfect example of how religious zealots create their gods only to serve themselves.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.