In the past few years, Republican-controlled states have established or expanded expensive voucher programs. The so-called “wall of separation” between church and state—a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson—is crumbling. Republicans and the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court are taking a sledgehammer to that wall, to make sure that public money underwrites tuition at private and religious schools. Public schools enroll the vast majority of American K-12 students, from 80-90%. They are being stripped of resources so that a small minority can go private.
Laura Meckler and Michelle Boorstein wrote in The Washington Post:
Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.
School vouchers can be used at almost any private school, but the vast majority of the money is being directed to religious schools, according to a Washington Post examination of the nation’s largest voucher programs.
Vouchers, government money that covers education costs for families outside the public schools, vary by state but offer up to $16,000 per student per year, and in many cases fully cover the cost of tuition at private schools. In some schools, a large share of the student body is benefiting from a voucher, meaning a significant portion of the school’s funding is coming directly from the government.
In just five states with expansive programs, more than 700,000 students benefited from vouchers this school year. (Those same states had a total of about 935,000 private school students in 2021, the most recent year for which data are available.) An additional 200,000 were subsidized in the rest of the country, according to tracking by EdChoice, a voucher advocacy group. That suggests a substantial share of about 4.7 million students attending private school nationwide are benefiting from vouchers — a number that is expected to grow.
The programs, popular with conservatives, are rapidly growing in GOP-run states, with a total of 29 states plus D.C. operating some sort of voucher system. Eight states created or expanded voucher programs last year, and this year, Alabama, Georgia and Missouri have approved or expanded voucher-type programs. Some recently enacted plans are just starting to take effect or will be phased in over the next few years…
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In Ohio, the GOP legislature last year significantly expanded its voucher program to make almost every student eligible for thousands of dollars to attend private school. As a result, more than 150,000 students are paying tuition with vouchers this year — up from about 61,000 in 2020. About 91 percent of this year’s voucher recipients attend religious schools, the Post analysis found. When vouchers for students with autism and other disabilities — who typically seek specific services — are removed from the list, the portion going toward religious education rises to 98 percent. (Unless otherwise noted, the Post calculations exclude schools for students with disabilities.)
In Wisconsin, 96 percent of about 55,000 vouchers given this school year went toward religious schools, The Post found. In Indiana, 98 percent of vouchers go to religious schools. (Indiana state data only specifies the number of vouchers for schools with at least 10 recipients.)
In Florida, several programs combine to make every student in the state eligible for vouchers, with more than 400,000 participating this year. At least 82 percent of students attend religious schools, The Post found. Florida is first in the nation in both the number of enrolled students and total cost of the voucher program — more than $3 billion this year.
And in Arizona, more than 75,000 students are benefiting from the Empowerment Scholarship Program, which pays for any educational expense. In 2022-2023, three-fourths of the money — about $229 million — went to 184 vendors. Most of that money went for tuition, 87 percent of it to religious schools.
Arizona also has an older voucher program, funded by tax credits, which last year subsidized tuition for at least 30,000 students. (The state tracks only the number of scholarships given, and one student can receive multiple scholarships.) Since this program was created in 1998, 19 of the 20 schools that received the most money were religious, according to a state report. Those 19 schools received about 96 percent of the $767 million spent between 1998 and 2023 at the top 20 schools.
HORRORS!
Vouchers and Charters are truly BAD.
BOTH are ANTI-Democratic…honest.
Vouchers are wasteful public policy. They serve to place disadvantaged students in separate and unequal schools, and they generally benefit the affluent that get to use public funds to pay for education that these families are already paying for. Worst of all they subtract dollars from the public schools most working families count on, and they provide no actual academic benefit. All this reckless spending will eventually cause huge deficits in state budgets or may cause steep increases in taxes to fund these wasteful programs. Unlike public schools that are accountable to the public, there is no way to account for funds when they are transferred to private entities. Vouchers are terrible public policy.
They are, Furthermore, a bribe at public expense of a voting public. Santa is coming to town.
As we see, repeating a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson (so-called wall of separation between church and state) is as valuable as the actions that match the phrase. Where there’s a will, there’s a wall…
It might be time for an outburst of good old-fashioned anti-clericalism.
And yet public schools continue with their bad reform policies that are sending parents to chase the voucher money. Get rid of the bad reforms (and there are many and we on this blog know what they are!) and parents will want to keep their kids attending public schools……AND……there would be more $$$$$ for those public schools and its teachers.
most of these reforms are top down moves to hamstring public education. When all these reforms started coming, administrators who were opposed to them that I knew either retired or took a position in the system that did not fit into the reform laws that were beginning to hamstring us. Teachers, meanwhile, looked for positions that were not tested or shifted into programs that still helped students. Administration that did not accept the testing mandates were summarily dismissed by those who did.
The responsibility for reform lies squarely in the behavior of political leadership forcing staff to comply.
States are forcing a lot of these bad policies, and then giving away the money to private schools when public schools struggle because of state policies. What are schools supposed to do? They can’t win either way.
Well, isn’t that why you have 2 major Unions? This could have been nipped in the bud (national strike) during the Obama education nightmare, but the Unions decided to fall in line all while taking Gates’ $$$$$. Now being far removed from public education, it looks like the Unions are all for protecting “the system” instead of doing what is right for children and teachers.
I honestly don’t blame parents who want to escape the public system using vouchers….. though many don’t understand the ramifications that it causes to the adjacent public system. Parents just want what is best for their children and that isn’t happening in public schools right now.
LisaM,
Please understand that those taking vouchers are not “fleeing” the public schools. Most vouchers are used by families whose children already attend private schools. These voucher states are subsidizing religious schools and upper-income families in private schools. Very little “fleeing” is happening.
In many cases the low priced vouchers for disadvantaged students offer a much worse education than the public school. Many of those poor students that sign up for the low value voucher return to the public schools.
Most people commenting on this blog are retired from teaching! You may know policy, but you don’t know what it’s really like to have children in the current public system….or know how to teach within the current confines of the public system. I left the public system with child #2 and found peace in my soul (no voucher usage!). I know many grandparents who are helping to put their grandchildren through private school because of all the bad reforms done to their own children within the public systems. The ONLY way to solve the problem is by getting rid of the bad deforms……the over testing, the poor curriculum, SEL programs, data collection thru surveys and more tests etc. Get rid of the bad and get back to the basic foundations of education and parents will return.
You can quibble all day, every day about this, but this fact remains…..parents aren’t happy that their kids aren’t happy and parents aren’t happy that their kids don’t seem to be learning the necessary skills that they need to make it into adulthood/society. Uncritical thinking is what is being “taught” when every question has an answer of A,B,C or D and the most asked question in the classroom is “will this be on the test”. I’m a parent and I’m telling you and I’ve been saying it for years…..yet no one wants to listen!
I can’t help noticing that all the people who choose to keep their children in public schools are totally invisible to those who have demonized public schools to somehow justify their own choice. Newsflash: Not all public schools reject critical thinking.
I doubt current teachers in public schools spend most of their time teaching multiple choice questions and answers. That’s just ridiculous.
I have friends who sent their kids to private schools, but I haven’t heard them bash public schools to rationalize their choice. Often parents whose kids eventually switch from private to public schools are very surprised at how great the public school is and the better teachers and opportunities. Even then, those parents don’t demonize the private schools they left even though they found that the public school was far superior for THEIR KID.
If I were one of the parents at whatever public school that LisaM left behind when she switched to private school, I would be insulted at her insinuation that SHE cared more about her kids’ education than the other parents did. Sure, that’s why it’s rare that any private school student would ever have a tutor! Or a therapist.
I can tell you from direct experience that students educated in public schools are taught how to think. The ability to think has nothing to do with whether they were coddled through a private school or learned in the far larger class sizes of public schools with experienced teachers.
There is a way to talk about the pressure on public schools to demonstrate that every child is above average. It is ridiculous. But needlessly bashing public schools and mischaracterizing the experience of most students in them (as well as mischaracterizing how most teachers in them teach) isn’t the answer. It isn’t helpful – it is harmful. It is also false.
I don’t have to bash private schools to justify my choice. There are good things AND bad things about private schools. There are good things AND bad things about public schools. I doubt LisaM would think a wholesale bashing of private schools as places that taught their students nothing but dreck would be acceptable, even if the person who demonized private schools that way claimed they only wanted to help make private schools better so that parents didn’t have to keep removing their kids from the terrible experience of private school.
Parents make different choices. Schools have positives and negatives, whether they are private or public. Those who wholesale bash one or the other to justify their choice have some other agenda, but it isn’t about being helpful.
And…..It’s back!……NYCPSP I mean. Couldn’t find another blog or Substack that would tolerate your obnoxiousness? Marcy Wheeler probably kicked you out because of your bloviating idiocy.
Lisa: I understand that parents have to find the best fit for their kids within their own reality. I had that experience myself growing up. Still, I would suggest that you often found like you are holding teachers responsible for what is wrong with public schools. Nothing could be farther than reality. Teachers want what is best for all their kids.
The topic is the right wing providing vouchers that help affluent parents to abandon their public schools.
The only response here by a parent provides all the reasons why parents should supposedly abandon their public schools:
“You may know policy, but you don’t know what it’s really like to have children in the current public system…”
“parents aren’t happy that their kids don’t seem to be learning the necessary skills that they need to make it into adulthood/society.”
“Uncritical thinking is what is being “taught” when every question has an answer of A,B,C or D and the most asked question in the classroom is “will this be on the test”.
Is this really an accurate picture of most public schools? It’s absolutely false in NYC. There are definitely things to criticize in an underfunded public school system, but if this was the truth, any parent who could afford to would abandon the system. Our public school kids are learning the “necessary skills that they need to make it into adulthood/society”, even with the problems. Just like private school students are learning the “necessary skills that they need to make it into adulthood/society” even though private schools aren’t perfect and have their own issues.
I thought I should provide a more balanced view of public schools since I do know what it was like to have kids in the current system, and thus my opinions could not simply be dismissed the way some educators’ were dismissed. As someone who attended public schools 40+ years ago, I can tell you that despite the issues and questionable reforms, the public schools here have provided a far better education than anything I got. No education system is perfect. Some students thrive in public school and some don’t. That happened long before there was education reform. If you are a parent whose kid didn’t thrive in your particular public school, there is no need to demonize all public schools.
I expected some reasonable response defending their anti-public school anti-teachers’ union views. Instead I received a spewing of nasty personal attacks and insults that I am shocked Diane allows on this blog.
But I will leave it up to you teachers to defend yourselves because why would you want a parent voice that supports public schools when it’s so much better if parents on this blog are represented by intelligent, reasonable, thoughtful and evidence-based “true” comments from Lisa M.
I have no need to be here and listen to her vitriol and lies directed at me. Frankly, it frightens me.
LisaM says: “the Unions are all for protecting “the system” instead of doing what is right for children and teachers.”
So if we get rid of unions, public schools can start to do right for children and teachers?
I don’t think it is particularly helpful to teachers when the few parent voices here trying to defend public schools against attacks are silenced, making it look like the forces of privatization and parents are on one side – they are apparently the ones who care about children – and union teachers are on the other.
I leave you all to the debate I interrupted: On one side the union and other educators and on the other side the parents who say they know what it’s really like in public schools and testify here about how lousy and awful the education public schools students get is. If I were a new parent reading this blog, I’d be running for private school, stat. And thanking the politicians for giving me a voucher to do it.
No one has suggested here getting rid of unions. Some of us have been HORRIFIED at the complicity of the AFT and the NEA with the Ed Deform/Common Core/state testing ABUSE of our children nationwide. And this is so even though we also support the existence of unions and the expansion of union membership.
And it is definitely true that the Ed Deform emphasis on the Common Core (or various state versions of this) and standardized testing has had an enormous deleterious effect on curricula and pedagogy in our public schools. I saw this, nationwide, during my time as an executive in an educational publishing house. And I’ve seen it close to him in schools I taught in and in ones my grandchildren attended. My daughter has pulled her kids from the public schools because of the overemphasis on test prep due to the Ed Deform occupation of our schools. It’s a mistake to hide one’s head in the sand, ostrichlike, and pretend that this is not happening. It is happening, and it’s a disaster. If the Ed Deformers have as their primary goal ruining public schools, they are doing a great job of that. There are, of course, some brave and devious teachers who give lip service to the testing and then close their doors and actually teach DESPITE the mandates, but increasingly, what I have seen is young teachers who robotically follow the testing mandates and the micromanagement of their teaching to make it test preppy, MUCH to the detriment of kids.
You cannot simultaneously claim that the public schools are just hunky dorey AND that they have been occupied by the forces of the Ed Deformers like Gates and Coleman and their profoundly ignorant ilk.
My call: a generation of kids has now had a sane, humane education stolen from them because of Ed Deform.
To see firsthand how much damage has been done to our public schools by Education Deform, one has but to look to the most up-to-date ELA textbook programs, which have almost universally replaced cumulative, substantive, knowledge-based instruction with random exercises on Common Core skills or on skills from supposed state “standards” that are modeled on and repeat the Common Core almost verbatim.
I worked with an English teacher who was perhaps 24 years old. She told me, “I do test prep until April. Then, after the tests are given, I have a month to teach English.” Admin loved this. They made this person Department Chairperson.
That kind of thing is pretty typical, these days. Young teachers who have drunk the Kool-Aid, who have come up under the occupation of our schools by the Ed Deformers and think that teaching is about doing test prep.
THIS IS A DISASTER. It’s a total devolution of our curricula and pedagogy. Believing that this is not happening is being totally out of touch. This is the reality today. And it’s a disaster.
Thank you, Bob!
“a generation of kids has now had a sane, humane education stolen from them”
Thank you both for making such a clear and convincing case for vouchers. Avoid public schools if you want your kid to have a sane, humane education.
Public schools are not “hunky dory”, but the entirely negative characterization of public schools (and public school teachers) offered here has no resemblance to the NYC public schools I have direct experience with.
And the entirely negative characterization of the public school education that “a generation of kids” received has no resemblance to the humane, thoughtful, rational and inquisitive young people I know.
But I don’t want to debate you anymore You may very well be successful in convincing many other parents that public schools no longer have any positive qualities. Carry on.
it took over a year, but the Utah Education Association is FINALLY suing the state of Utah over vouchers, which start this fall. Stay tuned ..
great!
Putting the voucher issue aside for a moment, it’s important to note that many parents choose private religious schools for the religious instruction and community they provide. Many of those schools are located near wonderful public schools. The administrators in those schools do not criticize the public schools. They simply talk about what is unique about their schools.
Jim,
I’m all in favor of parents exercising their right to send their child to a religious school.
I oppose using tax dollars to pay for their private choice. Why should I be taxed to pay for children to go to a religious school, whatever the religion? Why should I be taxed to pay tuition at a private school that would not admit my grandchildren?
I understand. I just wanted to point out that parent motives aren’t always a matter of escaping “bad” public schools. Of course, the politicization of public schools in, say, Florida may lead to a different reason for people to choose private schools.
Jim,
The issue here is not choice, but who pays for private choices.
DR
I understand.