Vouchers: Fighting Back on Behalf of Our Students and Communities
Expect voucher proponents to use that as a hook to try to elevate their agenda both at the national and state levels. This week is a great time to remind the public and policymakers to oppose school privatization schemes that would divert billions of dollars from neighborhood public schools.
Read this recent NCPE coalition letter to Congress that talks about why we need to oppose private school vouchers in all its forms and share a graphic on social media (right-click to save or long-press on your mobile device).
Our public schools, the heart of so many communities across America, are facing an unprecedented attack. Powerful special interests are pushing hard for multiple forms of vouchers, from education savings accounts to universal voucher programs and other privatization schemes that would divert billions of dollars from neighborhood public schools.
But make no mistake, these efforts are not about improving student achievement or giving parents an authentic voice in the kinds of services their children receive. Independent studies of voucher programs in states across the country have found that children in voucher programs perform far worse than their peers. In fact, education researchers who study vouchers say their effects are larger than natural crises like Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic. In state after state, vouchers have led to achievement declines.
However, these attacks are not designed to improve achievement. They are intended to destroy public education. The push for vouchers is a well-funded effort from billionaires like the DeVoses, the Kochs, and the Waltons who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in funding campaigns and dark money efforts to gut public schools and keep their taxes low. In fact, in the past few months, this coordinated campaign has led to a surge in voucher programs (with few to no limits on eligibility) in an unprecedented number of states where DeVos-style Republicans control all of the levers of power.
This is a direct threat to the schools that have educated generations of American children, binding communities together along the way. We cannot let special interests hijack America’s public schools without a fight. Our students and public schools need us to stand up and reject this attempt to undermine the institutions that represent the best of America.
Voucher supporters urge taxpayers to roll the dice on something that does not work, instead of looking at what does work. The AFT isn’t just fighting back; we’re championing the Real Solutions for Kids and Communities campaign to show that we can reject the toxic attacks against public education in favor of working to strengthen public schools, making real solutions for kids a national priority.
We also have to organize to defeat vouchers and want you to have tools to help fight back because when it comes to the long-term damage from vouchers, there is no upside. We must fight against vouchers at the national, state and grassroots levels with parents and communities who are fighting for their future.
The facts are on our side, and so is public opinion; that’s why vouchers have never won at the ballot box. To help with this, we are launching a portal that includes many resources for you to use, including a toolkit put together with our partner, the National Coalition for Public Education.
The AFT co-founded NCPE in 1978 and the group currently comprises more than 50 education, civic, civil rights and religious organizations that support the use of public funds for public schools. NCPE opposes funneling taxpayer money to private and religious schools through private school voucher schemes, and its members can be key allies in building anti-voucher coalitions.
We encourage you to take a look. The toolkit provides specific messaging, polling, graphics and research you can use, depending on your needs. We can work with you to tailor the document to specific campaigns.
Here are some of the resources we have available: