One element of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” is a federal school voucher scheme. It’s part of a broader plan by this Administration to undermine public education and divert public money to private schools. Some in the Administration have even questioned whether public schools should exist at all.
All vouchers harm students and undermine public education, and the federal voucher law is no different:
o Vouchers divert public funds to private schools.
o Vouchers lead to worse educational outcomes for students.
o Vouchers put students’ civil rights at risk.
o Vouchers lack quality and accountability standards and encourage fraud and abuse.
However, some suggest that the federal voucher program COULD benefit public schools because some of that money COULD end up in public school coffers.
Peter Greene explains why that is A) unlikely and B) to the extent it does happen, will result in a near-zero net revenue benefit to public schools and C) will inevitably leave some students behind.
Point is-- federal voucher dollars are not going to go to public schools unless the public schools can figure out a way to create the new funding stream for students carrying cash backpacks, and that create a whole new set of issues. If a special tutoring program is available to Susie because she has a backpack of federal voucher money, then why shouldn’t that tutoring be available to any or all students, regardless of backpack status?
Addendum: If a district already has a program that charges fees, then the federal voucher would help families pay that fee, but that would result in zero new revenue for the district.
If a public school sets up a program for backpack-bearing students to pay for a basic service, how do we square that with the mission of providing the same basic service for all? If a public school sets up a program for backpack-bearing students to “buy” an extra service, how do we justify only providing that special service to some students?