School Vouchers Promise Better Education—This Report Raises Doubts
Notice: This is a lengthy article but the topic of school choice and vouchers is an important subject. Facts matter and the future of all of our children's education matters, not just those who already send their children to private schools. Oversight and accountability matter.
School Vouchers Promise Better Education—This Report Raises Doubts.
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent/Newsweek
Published Apr 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM EDT
Proponents of school voucher programs that direct public money toward private schools tout them as a way to give students, no matter their background, access to a better education.
At least 29 states and the District of Columbia have at least one school choice program that offers vouchers, tax credits or scholarships to parents to help them pay for private school or education costs outside of the public school setting, with 15 offering a program with universal eligibility regardless of income. And that could grow, as lawmakers in several states consider bills to advance new programs.
President Donald Trump in January signed a sweeping executive order that would prioritize and free up federal funding to expand school choice programs. There are also fears that Trump's dismantling of the Department of Education would lead to public schools—which the vast majority of students attend—being stripped of much-needed resources, and allow state leaders to funnel money toward anything they want, including vouchers.
A new report—Public Dollars for Private Schools: The State of Vouchers in 2025—delves into how voucher programs favor the privileged over students from lower-income households and how they threaten public education.
According to the report, a collaboration between the Partnership for Equity and Education Rights and 34 education advocacy groups, in some states with voucher programs, the cost of tuition at top-rated private schools far exceed the amount a voucher provides.
Barriers to Access
The cost of tuition at a top-rated private school in Arizona is about $16,000 per year, while the voucher offers $7,000, the report says. In Oklahoma, a voucher offers $7,500, but the cost of elite private school tuition is about $26,000.
In Pennsylvania, the discrepancy is even greater: A voucher provides just $2,600 while the cost of tuition at a top private school is nearly $45,000 a year.
"This gap creates a barrier for families with lower incomes to utilize the voucher for accredited, quality schools charging higher tuition," the report notes.
It would be difficult for any family with a low to medium income to be able to afford to send their children to a good private school in Arizona, according to Racquel Mamani, a single mother of 17-year-old twins and a middle school educator in Phoenix.
"A good private school here in Arizona is about minimum $18,000 to $20,000 [per year]," she told Newsweek. "It's not an attainable goal for most people that are living on medium to low incomes."
Then there are the other costs that lower-income families would have to pay if they send their children to a private school, such as transportation and food.
"Not only do you have to pay the difference, but some of these schools don't provide transportation, so you have to transport your child yourself," Mamani said. "And if you're working right to try and pay these bills, you're not going to be able to transport your child."
Leda DeVlieger, a mother of two and substitute teacher from Gilbert, Arizona, told Newsweek: "It just feels like a push to privatize where the wealthy get educated and the poor don't."
Brian Jodice, national press secretary of the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy organization, told Newsweek that school choice is "about more than elite private schools" and academic outcomes are "excellent at schools far beyond that narrow cohort."
He said that Catholic schools on average charge "well within the range of school choice programs." But he added that some programs have award levels that "can and should be raised to truly level the education playing field."
"Lower- and middle-income students use and benefit from school choice programs because their families are not only willing to make sacrifices to access a quality education – in most cases, they already are sacrificing," he said. He added that in recent years, lawmakers in states including Florida and Arkansas have included transportation as an eligible expense, "recognizing that even more students could benefit with support on that front."
The report also notes that access to private schools varies across the country. Only 34 percent of rural families live within five miles of at least one private school compared to 94 percent of urban families, according to the report. It noted that in Nebraska, more than half of the states' 93 counties have no private schools, while in Wyoming, almost half of the state's 23 counties don't have one.
"In effect, rural communities' tax dollars are subsidizing private school students in urban schools," the report said.
But Jodice cited data from the Brookings Institution that said 92 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a private school, including 69 percent of rural Americans.
There is evidence that voucher programs are largely being used toward tuition costs for students from wealthier families who were already in private school. An analysis of Arizona Department of Education data for Maricopa County by ProPublica last year found that lower-income families in the state were using the voucher program far less than wealthier ones. In a West Phoenix ZIP code where the median household income was $46,700 a year, ProPublica estimated that only a single voucher was being used per 100 school-age children. But in a Paradise Valley ZIP code with a median household income of $173,000, an estimated 28 vouchers were being used per 100 school-age children.
And this week, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's office released figures showing that more than half of the families who applied for the state's new voucher program have children already attending private school. Ivey said in a statement that the applications—more than 22,000 in total—have come from "a wide range of families" and are a sign that, "clearly, taxpaying Alabama families want school choice."
But Beth Lewis, executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, said the evidence is clear that voucher programs are "benefitting white families in the suburbs who were already in private school or home school."
Whose Choice?
Lewis said that another larger barrier for families is that private schools are able to selectively choose their students. Many private schools often exclude English-language learners and students with disabilities, she said. "When you have schools that are picking and choosing kids, it's not a choice," Lewis told Newsweek.
Mamani said she experienced that firsthand when she and her ex-husband had tried to send their children to private school when they were younger. The school accepted her daughter, she said, but not her son—who was later diagnosed with learning disabilities.
"I realized that it wasn't my choice, it was their choice. It's the private schools' choice, because they can pick and choose who they take," she said. "So even if a student shows up with a voucher, they might not accept you."
In some places, unaccredited schools are opening their doors to take advantage of voucher programs, usually charging around the amount a voucher offers.
"What we are seeing is unaccredited, like strip mall schools that are popping up all over the place, and they're opening up, they're shutting down," Lewis said.
But while public schools in many states receive grades based on academic performance that parents and taxpayers can view, private schools receiving voucher funds are often not subject to any "meaningful" oversight or regulation, the report said.
ProPublica reported last year that after a failing charter school in Arizona was closed by regulators, it was able to reopen as a private religious school that accepted vouchers—before closing suddenly a few months later due to financial issues.
"It's dangerous, not only in terms of safety, but also in terms of kids' futures," Lewis said. "We have no idea what those schools are teaching. They do not have to use certified teachers. They don't have to have any sort of like state agency check for safety ... It's just the Wild West."
DeVlieger said the schools are "promising all these great things and saying they cost the same as a voucher. And then kids end up in a lurch because in the middle of the school year, they close down."
Ballooning Budgets
The report notes that in many states, initial predictions for the cost of voucher programs were vastly underestimated. In Arizona, the first year of universal vouchers had been projected to cost $33 million but eventually reached almost $550 million, the report said.
The analysis also says the diversion of taxpayer dollars away from public schools has led to schools being shut down, teachers being laid off and the loss of other resources like extracurricular activities.
Even the departure of a few students from a public school can have a significant impact, Lewis said.
"Because [Arizona's] funding formula only funds per student, it doesn't fund overhead costs of a school, it decimates the budget," she said. "So if you have three kids leave, that's a teacher salary. If you have 10 kids leave, that's several classrooms that are going to have to be shuttered. And so if you take that district-wide, you can see why so many schools are being shut down."
DeVlieger said that at her daughter's high school, classes routinely have up to 40 students. "It's too hard for teachers and it's bad for student learning outcomes," she said. And when schools are forced to close, students "are going to have to go to the other schools, and then class sizes are going to get larger."
But Azeemah Sadiq, a 17-year-old student in the Alief Independent School District in Texas, told Newsweek that "every dollar of funding matters" and that students like her are seeing opportunities disappear because of voucher programs.
"When public schools lose funding, it's not just numbers on a budget sheet," Sadiq said. "It's the after school programs that keep students engaged, the AP courses that prepare us for college, the mental health counselors who help us navigate life's challenges."
She argued that money for voucher programs should be invested in public schools.
"Imagine what we could do if our schools were fully funded. Better-paid teachers who aren't stretched thin, classrooms equipped with new materials, support staff who can actually meet students' needs," she said.
"But as long as voucher programs continue to rob public schools of essential funding, we're being forced to fight with one hand tied behind our backs. School vouchers don't solve the problem of inequity in education. They deepen it. And students like me are the ones left paying the price."
School Vouchers Promise Better Education—This Report Raises Doubts.
By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent/Newsweek
Published Apr 12, 2025 at 4:00 AM EDT
Proponents of school voucher programs that direct public money toward private schools tout them as a way to give students, no matter their background, access to a better education.
At least 29 states and the District of Columbia have at least one school choice program that offers vouchers, tax credits or scholarships to parents to help them pay for private school or education costs outside of the public school setting, with 15 offering a program with universal eligibility regardless of income. And that could grow, as lawmakers in several states consider bills to advance new programs.
President Donald Trump in January signed a sweeping executive order that would prioritize and free up federal funding to expand school choice programs. There are also fears that Trump's dismantling of the Department of Education would lead to public schools—which the vast majority of students attend—being stripped of much-needed resources, and allow state leaders to funnel money toward anything they want, including vouchers.
A new report—Public Dollars for Private Schools: The State of Vouchers in 2025—delves into how voucher programs favor the privileged over students from lower-income households and how they threaten public education.
According to the report, a collaboration between the Partnership for Equity and Education Rights and 34 education advocacy groups, in some states with voucher programs, the cost of tuition at top-rated private schools far exceed the amount a voucher provides.
Barriers to Access
The cost of tuition at a top-rated private school in Arizona is about $16,000 per year, while the voucher offers $7,000, the report says. In Oklahoma, a voucher offers $7,500, but the cost of elite private school tuition is about $26,000.
In Pennsylvania, the discrepancy is even greater: A voucher provides just $2,600 while the cost of tuition at a top private school is nearly $45,000 a year.
"This gap creates a barrier for families with lower incomes to utilize the voucher for accredited, quality schools charging higher tuition," the report notes.
It would be difficult for any family with a low to medium income to be able to afford to send their children to a good private school in Arizona, according to Racquel Mamani, a single mother of 17-year-old twins and a middle school educator in Phoenix.
"A good private school here in Arizona is about minimum $18,000 to $20,000 [per year]," she told Newsweek. "It's not an attainable goal for most people that are living on medium to low incomes."
Then there are the other costs that lower-income families would have to pay if they send their children to a private school, such as transportation and food.
"Not only do you have to pay the difference, but some of these schools don't provide transportation, so you have to transport your child yourself," Mamani said. "And if you're working right to try and pay these bills, you're not going to be able to transport your child."
Leda DeVlieger, a mother of two and substitute teacher from Gilbert, Arizona, told Newsweek: "It just feels like a push to privatize where the wealthy get educated and the poor don't."
Brian Jodice, national press secretary of the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy organization, told Newsweek that school choice is "about more than elite private schools" and academic outcomes are "excellent at schools far beyond that narrow cohort."
He said that Catholic schools on average charge "well within the range of school choice programs." But he added that some programs have award levels that "can and should be raised to truly level the education playing field."
"Lower- and middle-income students use and benefit from school choice programs because their families are not only willing to make sacrifices to access a quality education – in most cases, they already are sacrificing," he said. He added that in recent years, lawmakers in states including Florida and Arkansas have included transportation as an eligible expense, "recognizing that even more students could benefit with support on that front."
The report also notes that access to private schools varies across the country. Only 34 percent of rural families live within five miles of at least one private school compared to 94 percent of urban families, according to the report. It noted that in Nebraska, more than half of the states' 93 counties have no private schools, while in Wyoming, almost half of the state's 23 counties don't have one.
"In effect, rural communities' tax dollars are subsidizing private school students in urban schools," the report said.
But Jodice cited data from the Brookings Institution that said 92 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a private school, including 69 percent of rural Americans.
There is evidence that voucher programs are largely being used toward tuition costs for students from wealthier families who were already in private school. An analysis of Arizona Department of Education data for Maricopa County by ProPublica last year found that lower-income families in the state were using the voucher program far less than wealthier ones. In a West Phoenix ZIP code where the median household income was $46,700 a year, ProPublica estimated that only a single voucher was being used per 100 school-age children. But in a Paradise Valley ZIP code with a median household income of $173,000, an estimated 28 vouchers were being used per 100 school-age children.
And this week, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey's office released figures showing that more than half of the families who applied for the state's new voucher program have children already attending private school. Ivey said in a statement that the applications—more than 22,000 in total—have come from "a wide range of families" and are a sign that, "clearly, taxpaying Alabama families want school choice."
But Beth Lewis, executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, said the evidence is clear that voucher programs are "benefitting white families in the suburbs who were already in private school or home school."
Whose Choice?
Lewis said that another larger barrier for families is that private schools are able to selectively choose their students. Many private schools often exclude English-language learners and students with disabilities, she said. "When you have schools that are picking and choosing kids, it's not a choice," Lewis told Newsweek.
Mamani said she experienced that firsthand when she and her ex-husband had tried to send their children to private school when they were younger. The school accepted her daughter, she said, but not her son—who was later diagnosed with learning disabilities.
"I realized that it wasn't my choice, it was their choice. It's the private schools' choice, because they can pick and choose who they take," she said. "So even if a student shows up with a voucher, they might not accept you."
In some places, unaccredited schools are opening their doors to take advantage of voucher programs, usually charging around the amount a voucher offers.
"What we are seeing is unaccredited, like strip mall schools that are popping up all over the place, and they're opening up, they're shutting down," Lewis said.
But while public schools in many states receive grades based on academic performance that parents and taxpayers can view, private schools receiving voucher funds are often not subject to any "meaningful" oversight or regulation, the report said.
ProPublica reported last year that after a failing charter school in Arizona was closed by regulators, it was able to reopen as a private religious school that accepted vouchers—before closing suddenly a few months later due to financial issues.
"It's dangerous, not only in terms of safety, but also in terms of kids' futures," Lewis said. "We have no idea what those schools are teaching. They do not have to use certified teachers. They don't have to have any sort of like state agency check for safety ... It's just the Wild West."
DeVlieger said the schools are "promising all these great things and saying they cost the same as a voucher. And then kids end up in a lurch because in the middle of the school year, they close down."
Ballooning Budgets
The report notes that in many states, initial predictions for the cost of voucher programs were vastly underestimated. In Arizona, the first year of universal vouchers had been projected to cost $33 million but eventually reached almost $550 million, the report said.
The analysis also says the diversion of taxpayer dollars away from public schools has led to schools being shut down, teachers being laid off and the loss of other resources like extracurricular activities.
Even the departure of a few students from a public school can have a significant impact, Lewis said.
"Because [Arizona's] funding formula only funds per student, it doesn't fund overhead costs of a school, it decimates the budget," she said. "So if you have three kids leave, that's a teacher salary. If you have 10 kids leave, that's several classrooms that are going to have to be shuttered. And so if you take that district-wide, you can see why so many schools are being shut down."
DeVlieger said that at her daughter's high school, classes routinely have up to 40 students. "It's too hard for teachers and it's bad for student learning outcomes," she said. And when schools are forced to close, students "are going to have to go to the other schools, and then class sizes are going to get larger."
But Azeemah Sadiq, a 17-year-old student in the Alief Independent School District in Texas, told Newsweek that "every dollar of funding matters" and that students like her are seeing opportunities disappear because of voucher programs.
"When public schools lose funding, it's not just numbers on a budget sheet," Sadiq said. "It's the after school programs that keep students engaged, the AP courses that prepare us for college, the mental health counselors who help us navigate life's challenges."
She argued that money for voucher programs should be invested in public schools.
"Imagine what we could do if our schools were fully funded. Better-paid teachers who aren't stretched thin, classrooms equipped with new materials, support staff who can actually meet students' needs," she said.
"But as long as voucher programs continue to rob public schools of essential funding, we're being forced to fight with one hand tied behind our backs. School vouchers don't solve the problem of inequity in education. They deepen it. And students like me are the ones left paying the price."
