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"Don't let the far right's demonization of public education fool you," said one commentator. "People support their local public schools."
Evidence is mounting across the United States that school vouchers are harming public schools—and numerous studies have shown they largely do not benefit students academically as proponents have long claimed—leaving education advocates to wonder why the issue of so-called "school choice" is a fault line within the Democratic Party.
The Trump administration's recent cave on K-12 public education funding, more than $6 billion of which President Donald Trump was pressured to release after temporarily freezing it, showed that "public schools are a winning issue, everywhere," wrote commentator David Pepper at his Substack blog, Pepperspectives last week.
Yet when Education Week asked the governors of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. whether they would opt in to the nation's first federal school voucher program that was passed last month as part of Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, only one Democratic governor—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico—clearly stated she would not take part in the $26 billion program, which allows taxpayers to claim a 100% tax credit for up to $1,700 in donations to scholarships to private schools, and allow lower-income families to receive scholarship funds.
Lujan Grisham expressed concerns about the lack of accountability measures for private schools that would be funded with tax dollars, a loss of funding and enrollment for public schools, and the possibility of private schools discriminating against children with special needs.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also expressed doubt that his state would participate, saying "it doesn't seem fair" to support a program that "is taking away money from people who can't afford to go to a private school, who would like to go to a public school."
But several other Democratic governors didn't respond to Education Week's query, and others who have been supportive of school vouchers in the past, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, said they were "reviewing" the program, which does not go into effect until 2027.
"Governor Polis is still reviewing the details of this legislation, but is excited by the possibility of unlocking new federal tax credits for donations to help low-income kids achieve," said Polis' office.
The survey of governors was taken as two reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post detailed the damage school vouchers have already done to public school districts.
As the Times reported Wednesday, a decline in the number of babies being born in the U.S. and the rise of the "school choice" movement, particularly in Republican-controlled states, have led public schools in cities including Orlando, Florida; Newark, New Jersey; and Memphis, Tennessee to confront their emerging enrollment crisis by hiring consultants to help combat right-wing claims that children will suffer if they attend public schools.
Although Florida is one of a few states that has a growing instead of shrinking population of children, its public school systems are facing "significant declines," reported the Times, with more than 400,000 children in the state using the Florida school voucher system, called the universal education savings account—the largest voucher program in the United States.
In Orange County, where Orlando is located, the school-age population has grown by 5% since 2020—but the school district is expecting a 25% decline in kindergarten enrollment this year—and a potential loss of $28 million in federal funding, since schools are funded according to the number of students they enroll.
In Arizona, the Post reported, nearly 89,000 students receive vouchers the state government calls Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, while 62,000 receive taxpayer-supported scholarships for private schools through another voucher program and more than 232,000 students attend charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run.
The state's embrace of the "school choice" movement left just 75% of Arizona children attending public schools in 2021, according to the Post, and school districts are responding by closing schools. Roosevelt Elementary School District in the Phoenix area will operate just 13 schools this year—a third less than last school year.
"You're taking the same size pie and cutting it into more pieces," Rick Brammer, a consultant who analyzes school enrollment, told the Post. "As we've created and funded alternatives, we've just emptied out school after school from the districts."
Instead of adopting an anti-voucher, vehemently pro-public school stance as a signature issue, the Democratic Party is split on the issue, with a number of Democratic governors backing charter schools and vouchers and some veterans of the Obama administration, including former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, backing a group called Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), which has advocated for states to embrace the federal voucher program in Trump's domestic policy agenda.
As the Times reported Monday, DFER's chief executive, former Democratic Providence, Rhode Island Mayor Jorge Elorza, traveled to a Democratic Governors Association in Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend with the goal of convincing governors who are still "reviewing" the federal voucher program, as many told Education Week, to opt in.
"This is literally free money that is broadly supported by the majority of voters who have steadily drifted away from the party," Elorza told the Times, referring to Black and Latino voters, who some polls have shown believe public schools are failing children. "It just makes sense."
Other Democratic strategists who have previously been involved with DFER have shifted their focus to growing charter school networks in southern states.
Former Georgia state lawmaker Alisha Thomas Searcy, who co-founded the Center for Strong Public Schools Action, which is pushing the charter school effort, told Chalkbeat Tennessee on Monday that the group will not embrace vouchers.
"I want to be clear about what sets us apart," Searcy told the outlet. "It's our commitment to public education. It is foundational for us, and it's nonnegotiable. We're committed to remaining focused on strengthening public schools, not creating pathways that take away from them."
Public education advocates have warned charter schools, like vouchers, drain funding from public schools with less oversight, and research has shown mixed results in terms of academic improvements.
Many Democratic lawmakers, said Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-90), "have an education plan, it’s fully funding public education so every child has a well-resourced classroom, providing wraparound services so families have needed resources, smaller class size, and teacher autonomy."
Jennifer Berkshire, host of the education-focused podcast "Have You Heard," noted that popular Democratic politicians including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper have been vehement critics of school vouchers and defenders of robust funding for public education.
"And yet there is intense pressure to get Democrats to embrace vouchers in order to 'stay relevant,'" said Berkshire last week.
Vouchers were resoundingly defeated in a number of states last November—including those that votes for Trump.
A ballot initiative in Kentucky that would have sent public money to private schools was defeated by a 30-point margin, and in Nebraska, nearly every county voted to repeal an existing voucher program. Colorado voters, despite their Democratic governor's support for school vouchers, voted against adding a "right to school choice" to the state constitution.
Considering the broad public disapproval of school privatization, Pepper offered advice to Democrats last week.
"Don't let the far right's demonization of public education fool you," he wrote. "People support their local public schools. Whether it's an attack from Washington, an attack from your statehouse, some new privatization scheme, a billionaire-backed referendum or a candidate who is all-in on attacking public schools—oppose them fiercely and call them out bluntly. Go on offense for public schools, and against efforts to attack public schools."
"The House tax plan would create a system that treats people supporting private K-12 vouchers far more generously than donors to children's hospitals, veterans' groups, and every other cause imaginable."
Embedded in the House GOP's advancing reconciliation package is a major, long-sought victory for school privatization advocates that would let rich funders of vouchers avoid taxation, a change that opponents warned would supercharge the right-wing assault on public education.
The measure, which resembles the GOP-authored Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), was tucked into the House Republican tax legislation that passed out of the chamber's Ways and Means Committee earlier this week.
In effect, according to an analysis published Thursday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the legislation "allows wealthy individuals to avoid paying capital gains tax as a reward for funneling public funds into private schools."
"While the bill significantly cuts charitable giving incentives overall, nonprofits that commit to focusing solely on supporting private K-12 schools would be spared from those cuts and see their donors' tax incentive almost triple relative to what they receive today," ITEP explained. "On top of that, the bill goes out of its way to provide school voucher donors who contribute corporate stock with an extra layer of tax subsidy that works as a lucrative tax shelter."
"The House tax plan would create a system that treats people supporting private K-12 vouchers far more generously than donors to children's hospitals, veterans' groups, and every other cause imaginable," the group added.
ITEP estimated that if the policy had been in effect in 2021, billionaire Elon Musk could have saved $690 million in federal capital gains taxes.
"By putting this arrangement on the books," ITEP said, "the bill's proponents have ensured that there will be an eager pool of wealthy donors lined up to help move public funds into private schools, and to collect their capital gains tax cuts as a reward."
Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, said Republicans' effort to ram the tax scheme through as part of their filibuster-proof reconciliation package is a testament to the unpopularity of school privatization at the state and local levels.
"People don't like this stuff," Cowen told Roll Call. "Voters, whether they're Republican or Democrat, look at this stuff, and they're like, what does this really do for me?"
Supporters of school privatization were quick to celebrate the inclusion of tax breaks for voucher donors, with the American Federation for Children applauding Republican leaders for their "relentless commitment to ensuring school choice becomes the law of the land."
The American Federation for Children is funded by the family of billionaire Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary during President Donald Trump's first term.
The DeVos family is part of a network of deep-pocketed school privatization proponents that has been working for years to siphon taxpayer funding away from public schools and toward private—often religious—institutions.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told The New York Times on Tuesday that voucher supporters "don't believe in public schooling."
"We are against giving people tax breaks to defund public schools," the union leader said. "What you're seeing here is the fragmentation of American education."
The National Education Association, the largest teachers' union in the U.S., has also voiced opposition to the voucher tax break scheme, writing in a letter to members of the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this week that "taxpayer dollars should go to public schools open to all students, not private schools that can pick and choose their students."
"Every time voucher schemes are on state ballots—17 times in total, including three states last November—voters have rejected them," reads the letter. "America cannot afford to fund two education systems, one private and one public."
"If confirmed, Linda McMahon will dismantle public education as we know it to fund tax cuts for billionaires," one union leader warned.
Critics of U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for the Department of Education pointed to billionaire GOP megadonor Linda McMahon's Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday as the latest proof that the Republican administration intends to destroy public schools.
McMahon, accused of "enabling sexual abuse of children" as World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions as the education secretary nominee despite Trump making clear that he wants to shutter the department and billionaire Elon Musk—who is trying to obliterate the federal bureaucracy as chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—claiming last week that "it doesn't exist" anymore.
"Education is meant to be the great equalizer for our children, not a great investment opportunity for the billionaires ransacking our federal government."
"Most of us believe every student deserves the opportunity, resources, and support to reach their full potential no matter where they live, the color of their skin, or how much their family earns," said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers union. "But we didn't hear any of that today. As I travel around the country, parents and educators tell me their schools need more resources and more opportunities that will help students live into their brilliance. They do not want to gut public education or public schools."
She warned that "if confirmed, Linda McMahon will dismantle public education as we know it to fund tax cuts for billionaires. She will push vouchers that take funding from our public schools, where 90% of all children and 95% of those with disabilities learn and grow. Public funds should stay in our public schools. Our students need an education secretary committed to fully funding the programs that can help them reach their full potential, not siphoning money to send to private schools."
"The Senate must reject Linda McMahon as secretary of education. The agenda is clear and dangerous," Pringle argued. "Whether in Washington, with legal actions and lawsuits, or through grassroots actions in communities across the country, educators will continue to protect our students from this reckless agenda."
While the GOP-controlled Senate seems likely to confirm McMahon—so far, the chamber hasn't blocked any "fundamentally unfit" and "profoundly unqualified" Trump nominees—union and community leaders, educators, parents, and students have still pressured lawmakers to oppose McMahon and battle Trump's assault on public education.
They even braved winter weather at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for a related rally. MomsRising executive director and CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner called McMahon "wholly unqualified" and declared that "President Trump's education plan puts our children at risk and has grave implications for our workforce and our economy."
American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten, who was also at the rally, pointed out that "inside the Education Department, the world's richest man and his minions have been rifling through 45 million people's private student loan accounts and feeding the data into artificial intelligence in one of the biggest data hacks in U.S. history."
In response, AFT and unions sued multiple departments and the Office of Personnel Management "for violating the Privacy Act by improperly disclosing the sensitive records of millions of Americans to DOGE staff," Weingarten explained Wednesday. "And tomorrow, we hope Linda McMahon will discuss what she'll do to secure the personal data of veterans who receive benefit payments, current and former federal employees whose confidential employment files reside in OPM's system, and teachers whose pathway to the classroom was reliant on student loans to pay for college tuition. The American people deserve to know what she'll do to kick Elon Musk and DOGE out of the Education Department, out of our schools, and out of our data."
During the Senate hearing, "Democrats repeatedly grilled McMahon on her willingness to follow orders from Trump or Elon Musk even if they run afoul of congressional mandates," The Associated Press reported, noting that the nominee "played down the work" of DOGE and "pledged to uphold the law and show deference to Congress."
McMahon also addressed the administration's push to shut down the department. According to the AP:
"We'd like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education," McMahon said. But closing the department "certainly does require congressional action."
McMahon said the president's goal is not to defund key programs, but to have them "operate more efficiently." But she questioned whether some programs should be moved to other agencies. Enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, she suggested, "may very well rest better" in the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency that already has oversight of disability issues. The agency's Office for Civil Rights, she said, could fit better at the Justice Department.
Responding to the hearing in a statement, Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said that "Linda McMahon's testimony was nothing more than two hours worth of gaslighting. McMahon had the opportunity to state clearly and unequivocally that she will protect students, borrowers, and working families across the nation from the chaos that has already ensued as a result of President Trump and Elon Musk's work to make their Project 2025 agenda the law of the land. She did not."
"When asked whether she would abide by a directive by President Trump that breaks a law, her nonanswer spoke volumes. It is clear that Linda McMahon's blind loyalty to President Trump will guide her decision-making should she be confirmed to serve as the nation's highest education official—and our students and communities will pay the price," she cautioned.
Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, was a similarly critical, saying that "today's hearing made clear that Donald Trump is not trying to roll the country back to 1950, he is trying to roll us back to 1850. McMahon's dog whistles, her promotion of segregationist school choice policies, and her boss' commitment to converting civil rights protections into tools to police students are all reversals of what formerly enslaved Africans fought for and created during Reconstruction after the Civil War."
"Donald Trump and whoever becomes his secretary should think twice before dismantling the Department of Education," she continued. "As a social studies teacher, it's incumbent on me to provide a brief civics lesson: We have a system of checks and balances that prevents them from doing so. But more importantly, this isn't an obscure federal office. This is a backbone of the government that millions of families with children in our public schools rely on."
"By continuing to come for our public schools, they are further angering the Black families who count on civil rights protections, the families of children with disabilities who rely on federal standards, the families in poverty who rely on federal support, and anyone who is sickened to see queer and transgender students targeted and bullied by the federal government," she added. "Education is meant to be the great equalizer for our children, not a great investment opportunity for the billionaires ransacking our federal government."
A protester disrups of the Senate confirmation hearing for Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of education, in Washington, D.C. on February 13, 2025. (Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Several protesters interrupted Thursday's hearing, including to express concerns related to the Individual With Disabilities Education Act and the Trump administration's attacks on LGBTQ+ youth.
One lawmaker who took aim at Trump and McMahon during the event—and was publicly thanked by the AFT for doing so—was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee's ranking member.
"In America, we must not allow our educational system to become a two-tier system," Sanders said, calling it "absurd" to provide vouchers for families to send their children to private schools rather than public ones—the focus of a recent Trump executive order.
Sanders also sounded the alarm about using taxpayer money for such vouchers in a four-minute video from his office stressing that "Donald Trump is dead set on destroying public education in this country."
Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog group Accountable.US, warned of the long-term consequences, saying after the hearing that "starving cash-strapped states of critical public education resources is a recipe for generational failure."
"The Trump-McMahon-Project 2025 agenda would leave millions of kids behind and further rig the system against low-income communities," he continued. "McMahon would be just the latest to join the Trump administration's billionaire club, which has made no allusions about its plans to let the wealthy cut to the head of the line while working people wait for the scraps."
Carrk also pointed to her time in the wrestling industry, declaring that "Linda McMahon puts on quite a show of confidence, but her alleged actions knowing about and mishandling the sexual abuse of children at her corporation should give no one confidence that she would enforce Title IX sex discrimination protections as education secretary."