Few topics stir up as much debate in the education sphere as steering public money in the form of vouchers to pay for students to attend private school. Especially now that one of the nation鈥檚 most visible supporters of school vouchers鈥�Betsy DeVos鈥攊s President Donald Trump鈥檚 nominee to become U.S. Secretary of Education.
The subject of high-profile lawsuits and heated political rhetoric, vouchers tend to split people into two camps鈥攖hose who believe they are a valuable tool for helping disadvantaged children escape failing public schools and those who charge that they strip funds from public schools without offering real opportunity to poor children.
Today nearly 30 states have vouchers or some closely related form of private school choice, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
What follows is an overview of the big trends, research data, and concerns associated with school vouchers. Links to additional resources are included for those who would like to dig deeper.
What Are School Vouchers and How Do They Work?
- School voucher programs: These programs allow parents to use public funding allocated for their child鈥檚 education toward tuition at a private school of their choice, including religiously affiliated private schools. Most voucher programs start out by limiting who is eligible for them. Students with disabilities, those zoned to a failing school, or those from low-income families have been the most targeted student groups. Some states鈥擨ndiana is one鈥�have expanded their programs to include middle-income families. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have vouchers. But since the first modern day voucher program was launched in Milwaukee in 1990, spinoff programs have emerged.
- Tax-credit scholarship programs: Some states offer tax credits to entice businesses or individuals to donate to a scholarship granting organization, which then gives money to eligible students to use toward tuition expenses at a private school. To qualify, students usually have to come from a low-income family, a failing school, or have other special needs. Some states offer another variation, such as individual tax-credits or deductions. Seventeen states have tax-credit scholarships.
- Education savings account programs: With ESAs, states set aside money usually based on per-pupil funding formulas in individual accounts for participating students. Parents or guardians can withdraw that money to spend on approved educational expenses. That may be private school tuition, but it may also be used for tutoring, online courses, transportation costs, or even some types of therapy. ESAs can also allow families to home school or cobble together a hybrid public-private education. ESAs were originally aimed at students with disabilities, but in Arizona, where the idea came from, officials have steadily expanded eligibility. Nevada lawmakers attempted to create an ESA in 2015 that was open to all students in public schools, but that program has been suspended after the state鈥檚 supreme court ruled its funding mechanism unconstitutional in 2016. In addition to Arizona and Nevada, three other states鈥擣lorida, Mississippi, and Tennessee鈥攈ave ESAs.
Are School Vouchers Unconstitutional?
Have vouchers created unconstitutional entanglements between church and state since parents have used them to send their children to private religious schools? The short answer is no. In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state-enacted voucher program in Cleveland did not violate the U.S. Constitution鈥檚 prohibition on government establishment of religion. In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the court found that the voucher program was constitutional because it served a valid secular purpose and it was neutral to religion鈥攊n other words, parents choose which schools the money goes to, not the state.
That decision鈥攃laimed as a major victory by voucher advocates鈥攃hanged the landscape of the debate. After the ruling, government-supported voucher programs popped up in the District of Columbia, Florida, Maine, Ohio, and Vermont.
But how much voucher programs can expand largely depends on state constitutions. Some states have constitutional language that , generally referred to as 鈥淏laine amendments.鈥�
These clauses effectively outlaw private school choice. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm that supports school choice, says 37 states have such amendments in their constitutions.
Although Blaine amendments may block traditional voucher programs, tax-credit scholarships and education savings accounts have proven to be effective ways to work around such constitutional restrictions.
School Voucher Debate: Pros and Cons
Supporters of vouchers argue that low-income families should have the same opportunities to choose a school鈥攅ven a private school鈥攁s their wealthier peers. Proponents also contend that vouchers are beneficial to public education, because they promote market-like competitions among schools and compel all schools to work harder to improve.
Voucher critics argue that, like charter schools, vouchers siphon money from traditional public schools, leaving a large underclass of students鈥攊ncluding many of those with special education requirements鈥攖rapped in a system without enough resources to meet their needs. At best, they say, vouchers are a 鈥渓ifeboat鈥� solution that can help a few lucky children from motivated families. They further contend that any claims that voucher programs boost gains in student outcomes are unfounded.
School Voucher Research
Not surprisingly, much of the research around vouchers is highly charged and often contradictory. Some studies have tied student participation in voucher programs to improved academic achievement, but others have not found that to be true.
鈥攖he oldest in the nation鈥攆ound that using a voucher to attend a private school increased the likelihood that students would graduate from high school, enroll in college, and stay in college.
But in Louisiana, researchers more recently found that participation in that state鈥檚 voucher program 鈥渟ubstantially reduces academic achievement.鈥� In a , researchers posited that the poor academic outcomes for voucher students may be due to low-quality private schools opting into the program.
Two separate reviews of existing research have found that, overall, voucher programs have little meaningful impact on student academic achievement either way.
A survey of economics literature on school vouchers by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2015 found that in the aggregate studies showed that overall vouchers had inconsequential impact on how well students performed academically, but there were enough studies with positive findings to warrant more research. The review also found that, in general, school vouchers forced public schools to improve through competition.
Meanwhile, by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington think tank, found that vouchers have 鈥渘o clear positive impact鈥� on student achievement and mixed results overall. The researchers further observed that voucher supporters are stressing what they see as other benefits of vouchers, such as expanded options for parents to select schools, higher parental satisfaction, and higher graduation rates.
How Popular Are Vouchers?
Less than half of Americans support school vouchers for low-income students, , a journal published by Stanford University鈥檚 Hoover Institution. Forty-three percent of the 4,181 survey participants鈥攚hich constituted a nationally representative sample鈥攕aid they support the idea of vouchers, down from 55 percent four years ago.
Vouchers for low-income students were more popular among Democrats than Republicans, the poll found: 49 percent compared to 37 percent. Those numbers put rank-and-file party members out of step with their parties鈥� leaderships鈥擱epublican lawmakers tend to be the primary force pushing voucher and other private school choice policies, especially at the state level, against what is usually pretty stout opposition from Democrats.
