Trump’s dismantling of Education Department gives states ‘green light’ to pursue voucher programs
An increasing number of red countries have expanded school vouchers programs in recent years, a trend that may only extend in a batch Under the leadership of President Donald Trump To re -teach “return to the states”.
Conservative education activists have long praised programs like a way to give more control over parents and families. But public education advocates warn that expanding these vouchers’ programs is a greater danger to the broader school system as The faces of the danger From Trump Dismantling the Ministry of Education.
“Many countries entered this administration with a busy record in trying to privatize education, and I think it is seeing this step to dismantle the Ministry of ED and support President Trump to privatize the school as a green light to be more expanded in their approach to moving forward.” At the Left Economic Policy Institute, which is closely studying the impact of voucher programs on public education.
Only last week, Texas The age of the private school voucher program at the state levelThat the sixteenth country becomes to provide a form of a global school selection program. In private school vouchers programs, families can obtain a certain amount of public funds for use in K-12 tuition fees or school supplies. In some states, such programs had previously come with restrictions, including narrow eligibility, such as private schools that could accommodate families with children with special needs or lower income levels.
Supporters of the program in Texas and others love him describing the “Global Vlus” program because it has no restrictions on who is qualified. Under the program, any family in the state may receive about $ 10,000 to pay for the education of their private children in private schools. Texas will be launched in the academic year 2026-27.
State level programs are not far from a new phenomenon. But they exploded in recent years amid increasing political effort by conservatives at local, state and federal levels to enhance “school choice” – the idea that parents should have much more options than public schools in the neighborhood.
At least sixteen states offer a program of at least one vouchers with global eligibility, while 14 other vouchers programs are offered with eligibility requirements, according to the Center for Education Law, a group of advocacy for public education that criticizes voucher programs.
At least three states, Texas, Idaho and Tennessee, have made its comprehensive programs this year, while in eight other states, conservative lawmakers ‘attempts to create new vouchers’ programs or expand their current stopping or failure, according to the National Education Association, the largest union of teachers in the country.
“Although this is not a new explosion of the laws of vouchers, this year continues to explode the vouchers … and although USDOE [dismantling] “It is not necessarily the only driving force, it is definitely linked,” said Jessica Levin, director of litigation at the Education Law Center, which helps in lawsuits that challenge Trump’s movements to dismantle the Ministry of Education.
The most prominent argument made by critics of the voucher programs is that they take public money that could have been allocated to help finance public schools and provide them to private schools.
They stated that private schools do not face most of the accountability requirements carried out by public schools under federal laws. For example, private schools reserve the ability to refuse admission to students, and it is not required to provide individual educational plans for children with learning difficulties and they are Under the law is not required to submit the disabled Students or students who face disciplinary measurements some protection or legal procedures rights.
At the same time, public school financing formulas often depend on enrollment numbers. Therefore, where students flee public schools – even if they are in only small numbers – the total financing decreases.
“Students who stay in public schools lose resources,” Levin said, while “students lose law.”
Meanwhile, Levin explained, the departure of the student based on vouchers from public schools means “you are now focusing on children with high cost needs in public schools that now have less funding.”
These positions are now exacerbated by Trump’s moves to calm the education department, which are experts They said it would increase Civil rights enforcement in schools as well as distributing billions of dollars to help the poor And the disabled students.
“President Trump and Amin. [Linda] McMahon believes that our nation’s students will flourish when parents are granted freedom to choose the preparation of the school that suits their children’s academic needs. “
Nihaus added that the administration “will provide countries with best practices on how to expand educational opportunities and enable local leaders to implement a dedicated policy that would benefit their societies more than others.”
While some states have programs similar to vouchers that allow families to use public funds for narrow education that dates back to more than 100 years, modern vouchers programs have existed for about 30 years, after they were largely launched in the 1990s amid a conservative movement at the base level at the level of al -Qaeda to increase the options of non -endowment parents with local public schools.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic emerged as a flash point for conservative education activists, who used widespread anger among parents who are not satisfied with the closure of schools and distance learning as a fuse of new and expanded vouchers programs throughout the country.
School voucher supporters say programs Maximizing the selection of parentsWho can use funds to support expensive private school costs, which, as they argue, provide better results for students. The supporters also have a description Programs that offer a market -based approach to help Promote the best schools They have argued that they have the ability to take advantage of low -income families or families with a few unique options for public schools.
Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation of Children, a conservative group calling for school vouchers programs, Tell Fox News this week Comprehensive vouchers’ programs, such as those enacted in Texas, give parents “freedom of education”.
He praised a similar program in which Florida expanded in 2023, claiming that he had caused “public schools in the state” improved. “Schultz denied that the Texas program, or programs like that, would lead to lower resources for public schools, and called that” the argument itself for 30 years “by public education advocates.
Andrew Mahalis, a spokesman for the governor of Texas Greg Abbott, said in an email that the Republican “made educational freedom a priority because no one knows the needs of their child is better than the father.”
“When it comes to education, important parents, and families deserve the ability to choose the best educational opportunities for their children,” Mahalis added. “The choice of the governor who signs the school in the law is an unprecedented victory for the Texas families, students and the future of our great state.”
But critics point out examples that show that comprehensive school vouchers programs Inconsistent user By wealthy families for whom Children are already registered in private schoolsOr that children in rural areas with a few schools have limited options for using money. They also point to Studies that refute the claim that private schools provide better results for students.
In addition, enrollment in private schools, even with a voucher to help cover the cost, still can be very expensive for low -income families.
He said something from the enlarged immunization program Analysis showed Which – which Between 60 % and 90 % of students Those who benefit from the global eligibility vouchers programs throughout the United States were actually He joined private schools when they participated in the programs.
She warned of the damage that programs such as those in Texas said.
She said: “Once you get rid of income limits or engraving, for example, only families with low incomes or students with disabilities only, you mainly open the gates for students who are already enrolled in private schools, or who already have enough income to join private schools, to use state financing now to support their private school.” “It is the next step in what we think as the development of the voucher.”
