‘Poison Pill’: AFT’s Weingarten Slams Trump Voucher Scam

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Trump administration released new regulations for its unpopular national private school voucher scheme:

“This scheme is a poison pill for the 90 percent of American children who attend public schools. Instead of strengthening public education, President Trump is diverting $500 billion in taxpayer cash into private hands, with everyone else left fighting for scraps in a real-life Hunger Games.

“State governors should reject it—not least of all because they will have no say or oversight over how the vouchers operate. The reality is that for every precious public dollar funneled to private schools—money that could be spent on instruction, lowering class sizes, modern buildings or new books in the library—public school parents will be hunting for pennies on the floor.

“This isn’t about ‘school choice’; it’s the about the school’s choice: Private schools can simply refuse to accept poor kids, those with special needs or those with different religions. And they can refuse to submit to the basic accountability measures their backers hypocritically demand of public schools. If this were really about ‘choice’ then the administration would be trying to help public schools succeed, rather than eviscerating them. 

“Instead, this is yet another cruel chapter in the Trump’s administration’s war on families after the Big, Ugly Bill slashed trillions in support for young people by gutting Medicaid, food assistance and student loans.

“If we are serious about the promise of education then we have an obligation to make every public school a place where parents want to send their kids, educators want to work and kids thrive. Instead of this voucher scheme, we should commit to creating safe and welcoming schools with a curriculum that is engaging, relevant and rigorous. That means multiple pathways to career and college, expanding community schools, focusing on literacy and critical thinking, and protecting children against the perils of artificial intelligence while harnessing its potential. These regulations do the exact opposite.”