Tell Your Governor and Legislature: REJECT the Federal Voucher Trap
The federal tax credit program included in the budget reconciliation bill passed in early July is designed to appeal to all states—especially those without existing voucher programs—by offering the tempting prospect of extra funding for public school families. However, we know the well-worn history of privatization, and we urge you to tell your Governor: don’t take the bait.
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In case public school families need a refresher, remember how charter schools were originally envisioned?
The early advocates of charter schools imagined them as small, teacher-led innovations within the public school system—incubators for new teaching methods. Their goal wasn’t to compete with public schools, but to collaborate and share successful practices that would elevate the entire system.
But that vision quickly unraveled. In 1995, just two years after Michigan passed its charter law, multi-millionaire businessman J.C. Huizenga—son of the founder of a for-profit garbage-collecting corporation—opened his first for-profit-run charter school. Today, 20% of charter school students attend schools run by for-profits.
Arizona’s 2011 ESA voucher program, intended initially to serve students with disabilities, has since ballooned into a giveaway for nearly every private school and homeschool family in the state. The result? Arizona taxpayers are on the hook for $864 million, all while state funding to public schools continues to shrink.
Let’s be clear: if states participate in this federal MAGA tax credit right out of the Project 2025 playbook, it means either our federal taxes will increase, or federal funding for public schools will decrease. There is no such thing as a “free lunch”—and with Project 2025’s plan to cut free lunch programs, we may soon see this funding come directly from our children’s plates.
Now is the time to tell our Governors—before regulations are finalized—that we expect them to reject this MAGA voucher scheme and focus on supporting and improving their public schools.
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