Vouchers and the future of public education

Twenty-five years ago, very few states operated voucher programs that subsidized sending students to private schools. Wisconsin was the first state to adopt a limited voucher program in 1989, followed by an Ohio voucher plan (Cleveland) in 1995. But even by 2000, just 11,000 students were using vouchers. That number grew to more than 600,000 by 2021 (Welner, Orfield & Huerta, 2023). But within the past two years, more than half a dozen states have enacted “universal” voucher laws, which permit any school-age child in the state to attend private schools using taxpayer funds that would or could otherwise support public education. Robert Kim invited Jessica Levin to join him as a guest columnist this month to discuss the proliferation of vouchers and current efforts to stop them. 

Kim: Jessica, I’ve been gobsmacked by the recent spread of vouchers. Until quite recently, supporting vouchers was like touching the third rail, even for many conservatives. What happened?

Levin: The spread of voucher programs is truly stunning. A variety of factors have contributed to the latest avalanche of voucher legislation. Over the last quarter century, the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court has dramatically shifted, from prohibiting government aid to religious schools as a violation of the Establishment Clause to allowing it (after Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, U.S. Sup. Ct., 2002) to requiring it in some instances under the Free Exercise Clause. Recently, in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (U.S. Sup. Ct., 2020) and Carson v. Makin (U.S. Sup. Ct., 2022), the Supreme Court ruled that Montana and Maine could not exclude religious schools from programs that use public funds to pay for private education.

A variety of factors have contributed to the latest avalanche of voucher legislation.

Kim: Politics and money have played a part too, right? We’ve seen Republicans gaining majorities and even supermajorities in various state legislatures. Increasingly, Republican (and even some Democratic) governors and legislators are making vouchers a priority. As director of Public Funds Public Schools, you’re tracking hundreds of bills introduced in state legislatures that would create or expand voucher programs. And we can’t ignore the influence of powerful, well-funded pro-voucher groups and their backers, like billionaire Betsy DeVos, the former U.S. secretary of education; the Institute for Justice (which litigated the Supreme Court cases you just mentioned); and groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that churn out “model” voucher legislation.

Levin: As you’ve previously pointed out (Kim, 2023), vouchers are connected to the culture wars, with some pro-voucher groups explicitly attempting to fuel and capitalize on anti-public-school sentiment. For example, legislators have proposed voucher bills on the premise that families need alternatives to public schools because of their disagreement with what they think is being taught there. Voucher proliferation and the recent rash of classroom censorship laws aren’t unrelated or simply coincidental.

Kim: Did the pandemic accelerate vouchers?

Levin: It absolutely played a part. As I’ve discussed elsewhere (Levin, 2021), the COVID-19 pandemic fed into the false narrative that public education is a failure, even though polls (including the 2022 PDK Poll) indicate that most people are very happy with their local public schools. Still, during the pandemic, some legislation (e.g., in Florida) explicitly based voucher eligibility on COVID-related grievances, such as the suspension of in-person instruction or safety measures like mask mandates.

Kim: We use the term “vouchers” as if a public school literally hands a note or check to parents, enabling them to make a deposit toward their child’s private school tuition. In reality, there are a bunch of ways states subsidize private schools at the expense of public schools. Can you explain some of those ways?

Levin: There are three main types of vouchers:

• Conventional vouchers pay for all or part of a student’s private school tuition with payments from the public treasury.
• Education Savings Account (ESA) vouchers are public funds deposited into a personal account that parents can use for private school tuition or other private education expenses, such as tutoring, online coursework, transportation, or even homeschooling.
• Tax credit voucher programs provide individuals or corporations with up to a 100% tax credit to send money they would otherwise owe in taxes to private organizations that then fund vouchers to pay for private school tuition and other private education expenses.

Kim: Why are there so many kinds of vouchers?

Levin: Vouchers keep evolving, in name and form, to avoid legal challenges and policy opposition. For example, proponents of tax credit voucher programs claim that tax credits aren’t public money because the state never received those funds. But the state is still missing out on money it was supposed to be paid in taxes. Fortunately, in 2022, the Kentucky Supreme Court saw through the ruse and unanimously struck down the state’s tax credit voucher program, in Kentucky v. Johnson (Ky. Sup. Ct., 2022).

In addition, pro-voucher groups use a variety of enticing names — like “education freedom accounts” and “choice scholarships” — to try to dupe the public into supporting them. But the truth is that vouchers aren’t popular; every time they’ve appeared on the ballot, they’ve failed.

Kim: Let’s talk money. The potential impact of vouchers on public school funding is gargantuan. Research shows that Florida’s universal voucher law could take $4 billion per year away from public education (Education Law Center, 2023), and that universal voucher programs could drive up the overall cost of educating students by up to 33% (Shand & Levin, 2021). Advocates could spend years fighting for increases in school funding, only to see those gains wiped out by a voucher program.

Levin: That’s right. Universal vouchers will cost states hundreds of millions or billions of dollars annually. Pro-voucher groups often lowball the estimates, but we’re seeing the truth in real time in states like Arizona, where vouchers are expected to cost over $900 million in 2023-24, in just their second year of implementation (Save Our Schools Arizona, 2023). Even when voucher programs start out small, the empirical evidence has shown that they grow rapidly in size and cost (Abrams & Koutsavlis, 2023).

Kim: We’re also seeing signs that some supporters of public schools are warming to vouchers — or are at least not actively opposing them — because they think vouchers may provide opportunities for underserved children.

Levin: That kind of thinking must be rebutted with facts. First, there’s increasing evidence that many vouchers go to students already enrolled in private school (Lieberman, 2023). Vouchers are not only failing to provide opportunities to underserved students but also taking millions of dollars from public schools those students attend. Second, studies have shown for many years that voucher schools don’t improve, and often worsen, recipients’ educational outcomes as compared to their public school peers (Lubeinski & Malin, 2019). And third, we know that vouchers often don’t cover the full cost of private school tuition (Whittaker, n.d.), let alone the services many high-need students require.

Kim: It’s important to understand that vouchers aren’t like public school choice programs, such as charters, because they funnel state money outside the public sector, setting into motion a scenario in which public schools may no longer be a viable choice for many students in the future. They become choice killers.

Vouchers aren’t like public school choice programs, such as charters, because they funnel state money outside the public sector,

Levin: Vouchers also limit choice by steering taxpayer funds to private schools that, unlike public schools, are not legally obligated to welcome and serve all children. Private schools are often exempt from civil rights laws and thus can discriminate against students, families, and employees on almost any basis, including their religion, LGBTQ+ status, disability, or a student’s academic or disciplinary history. They also aren’t obligated to offer services many students need, such as programs for multilingual learners and students with disabilities.

Kim: What are recent legal developments in the state courts?

Levin: Public school advocates have achieved significant victories in the courts, including in Kentucky (as discussed above), but also experienced some setbacks, including in West Virginia and, most recently, New Hampshire. There are several ongoing challenges to voucher programs across the country, including in Tennessee and South Carolina (ELC is co-counsel representing the plaintiffs in those cases), as well as Ohio. These lawsuits mainly assert violations of various provisions of state constitutions, such as their guarantees of public education and their prohibitions on the use of public dollars for private education.

Kim: What about legislative strategies and options?

Levin: Advocates are working to oppose or roll back voucher legislation in numerous states, such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Texas. In 2023, advocates in Illinois convinced the state’s legislature not to extend its tax credit voucher program into this year. Given the overwhelming number of pro-voucher bills introduced all over the country, we have our work cut out for us.

Kim: Given what’s happened in a single year, we have no time to lose. We’ve got to use all the tools in our arsenal — legal, policy, research, and outreach. On the bright side, I sense that the advocacy and philanthropic communities are beginning to focus more intently on the devastating impact of vouchers. A significant reduction in public school funding would be crippling to our society and our democracy, and it’s heartening to see that even entities that don’t normally focus on public education are starting to appreciate that fact.

References

Abrams, S.E. & Koutsavlis, S.J. (2023). The fiscal consequences of private school vouchers. Public Funds Public Schools.

Education Law Center. (2023, Feb. 3) HB1 universal voucher program would cost billions [Press release].

Levin, J. (2021, Aug. 11). The problem with private school vouchers. The Progressive.

Lieberman, M. (2023, October 4). Most students getting new school choice funds aren’t ditching public schools. Education Week.

Lubeinski, C. & Malin, J. (2019, August 30). The new terrain of the school voucher wars. The Hill.

Kim, R. (2023). The legal fight to preserve public education — and democracy. Phi Delta Kappan, 104 (8), 60-62.

PDK International. (2022). Local public school ratings rise, even as the teaching profession loses ground.

Save Our Schools Arizona. (2023). The impacts of universal ESA vouchers: Arizona’s cautionary tale.

Shand, R. & Levin, H.M. (2021). Estimating a price tag for school vouchers, National Education Policy Center.

Welner, K., Orfield, G., & Huerta, L.A. (2023). The school voucher illusion. Teachers College Press.

Whittaker, M.C. (n.d.). The average voucher doesn’t cover full cost of private school, NCLD data analysis shows. Understood.

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This article appears in the February 2024 issue of Kappan, Vol. 105, No. 5, p. 62-63.