School vouchers that would allow parents pay private school tuition with public money has been in the news over the past week — both in Washington, D.C. and in Colorado.
Given these events, I thought it would be useful to readers and to me to bring together some resources on the issue. I’ve also included more general articles on the idea of school “choice.”
I hope others will provide additional suggestions.
Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning Why School Vouchers Are A Bad Idea:
Rethinking Schools has an impressive collection of articles titled Struggle Against Vouchers Continues in Milwaukee and Across Nation.
Walt Gardner at Ed Week has two good posts. One it titled Eternal Vouchers and the other is When School Reformers Disagree.
Grasping At Straws was written by Liam Goldrick.
Lessons—Better Than a Voucher, a Ticket to Suburbia is by Richard Rothstein.
Choice schools not outperforming MPS is the headline of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
Vouchers making a comeback, but why? is by Diane Ravitch, and it appeared in The Washington Post.
Report: How voucher landscape is widening comes from Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.
The ugly truth about “school choice” is from Salon.
The Illusions of School Choice is by Renee Moore.
What Can Voucher Fans Learn from the Space X Mission? is by Bill Ferriter.
Key questions for Democrats on ‘school choice’ is from The Washington Post.
With Vouchers, States Shift Aid for Schools to Families is from The New York Times.
Quote Of The Day: Instead Of Vouchers…..
The doubts of a school choice supporter is by Sam Chaltain.
The hype and reality of ‘school choice’ is by Valerie Strauss.
8 Reasons Why School Vouchers Are A Very Bad Idea is from The AFT.
Obama smacks Bill O’Reilly on school vouchers is from Valerie Strauss.
A Grand Compromise: Supporting School Choice Without Savaging Poor Kids is by Richard Kalhlenberg.
The Unsurprising Limits of School Choice in New Orleans & Elsewhere is by John Thompson.
‘School Choice’ and Disenfranchising the Public is by Peter Greene appeared in the Huffington Post and a related piece by a School Superintendent, titled Vouchers still vouchers by any other name, appeared in a San Antonio newspaper — both are very good.
How do schools respond to competition? Not as you might expect. is from The Washington Post.
Nevada Legislature Goes To Crazytown With New Voucher Law
Why Vouchers Won’t Fix Vegas Schools is from The New York Times.
Nevada high court blocks funding for school choice program is from The Associated Press.
Vouchers Could Be the Big Winner in Trump’s School Choice Plan, but Is That a Victory for Students? is from The 74.
School Vouchers 101: What They Are, How They Work — And Do They Work? is from NPR.
‘School choice’ or ‘privatization’? A guide to loaded education lingo in the Trump era is from The Washington Post.
How Indiana’s school voucher program soared, and what it says about education in the Trump era is from The Washington Post.
Milwaukee’s Voucher Verdict is from The American Prospect.
Why the racist history of school vouchers matters today is from Think Progress.
The real meaning of school choice is by Nancy Vera.
A Case Study for Betsy DeVos’s Educational Utopia is from The Atlantic, and is about Nevada’s failed voucher program.
A vote for DeVos is a vote for resegregation is from CNN.
Dismal Voucher Results Surprise Researchers as DeVos Era Begins is from The New York Times.
Seven Reasons Why School Choice ≠ School Reform is from Learning First.
‘Tax Credit Scholarships,’ Praised By Trump, Turn Profits For Some Donors is from NPR.
For Trump and DeVos, a Florida Private School Is a Model for Choice is from The New York Times.
DeVos and Tax Credit Vouchers: Arizona Shows What Can Go Wrong is from The New York Times.
America Needs Public School Choice, Not Private School Vouchers is by Richard Kahlenberg. Yup, on the same list.
Education for Sale? is by Linda Darling Hammond.
School Choice Fight in Iowa May Preview the One Facing Trump is from The New York Times.
Key Democratic senator outlines a case against school vouchers is from The Washington Post.
Arizona Frees Money for Private Schools, Buoyed by Trump’s Voucher Push is by Dana Goldstein.
The Political Parallels and Contradictions of the School Choice, Food Choice — Er, Food Stamps — Debate is by Matt Barnum.
Special Ed School Vouchers May Come With Hidden Costs is from The New York Times.
DeVos praises this voucher-like program.
How School Choice Turns Education Into a Commodity is from The Atlantic.
Vouchers Found to Lower Test Scores in Washington Schools is from The New York Times.
Mother Jones has a similar article: This Report Card for Betsy DeVos’ Favorite Education Policy Is Pretty Bad
Three big problems with school ‘choice’ that supporters don’t like to talk about is from The Washington Post.
The Promise And Peril Of School Vouchers is from NPR.
Indiana’s School Choice Program Often Underserves Special Needs Students is from NPR.
For Families With Special Needs, Vouchers Bring Choices, Not Guarantees is also from NPR.
When School Vouchers Don’t Offer Much Of A Choice is from NPR.
What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos is from The Washington Post.
Setback for Groundbreaking School Choice Program Could Have Broader Fall Out is from Ed Week.
Supreme Court Rules Religious School Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground is from NPR.
Beyond scraped knees: The implications of a Missouri playground on state voucher programs is from Brookings.
Trump Administration Advances School Vouchers Despite Scant Evidence is from Scientific American.
When Privatization Means Segregation: Setting the Record Straight on School Vouchers is by Leo Casey.
Trump Administration Advances School Vouchers Despite Scant Evidence is from Scientific American.
Why School Choice is the Last Thing America Needs to Solve Its Huge Racial Wealth Gap appeared at Alternet.
Precious Little Evidence’ That Vouchers Improve Achievement, Recent Research Finds is from Ed Week.
Undercutting Our Democracy Through Vouchers is by Richard Kahlenberg.
Trump and DeVos love ‘Education Savings Accounts.’ You should know how they really work is from The Washington Post.
When School Choice Means School’s Choice is from The Atlantic.
Do voucher students’ scores bounce back after initial declines? New research says no is from Chalkbeat.
A tweet that applies to both education and health care systems… https://t.co/zRSxrVXdjr
— Jennifer Binis (@JennBinis) December 14, 2019
Reformers must stop whitewashing ‘choice’ is by Andre Perry.
This has been an oft-repeated refrain for years now, school choice advocates have long framed their issue as a civil rights one.
It is especially jarring now, when people are fighting for their right to live. Civil rights is the civil rights issue of our time. https://t.co/MYNWcGaSz8
— Rebecca Klein (@rklein90) June 16, 2020
SUPREME COURT RULES THAT PUBLIC FUNDING FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS IS OKAY
School Choice Was the Main Policy Mentioned at Monday’s RNC. Why? is from Slate.
‘School choice’ policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class is from The Conversation.
‘School choice’ developed as a way to protect segregation and abolish public schools appeared in The Washington Post.
An argument for why school vouchers harm American civic life appeared in The Washington Post.
Let’s talk about vouchers through variable and fixed costs!
THREAD for the readers of this world pic.twitter.com/Odu67PlABC
— Stephen Owens (@StephenJOwens_) March 9, 2022
Why School Choice is Roiling the GOP is from US News.
School Choice and the False Promise of Parent ‘Empowerment’ is by Peter Greene.
Maine’s End Run Around the Supreme Court Offers States a Blueprint on Guns is from The NY Times.
After two decades of studying voucher programs, I’m now firmly opposed to them is from The Hechinger Report.
It was Texas’s rural districts that defeated a fast moving voucher bill in 2017. They will be key to defeating a new bill this year. Listen up other states. Vouchers offend rural districts bc they ignore everything they’ve waited on for decades. 1/x https://t.co/1tqkmDzNbN
— Derek W. Black (@DerekWBlack) August 9, 2022
Study Finds No Surprise – Schools That Get Vouchers Push Out Students Facing Challenges
Vouchers are a terrible idea for so many reasons. They siphon money from #txed, have no accountability to tax payers, & just serve “the chosen.” https://t.co/TK0jZRxZ2I. @tasanet
— Kevin Brown (@KBrownTASA) October 19, 2022
This is everything that laypeople and journalists need to know about interrogating research on school vouchers. https://t.co/7Bq6FQABkg
— Jack Schneider (@Edu_Historian) November 30, 2022
🤦♂️ I get this a lot from from people who aren’t policy analysts.
Listen, we don’t have more #schoolvouchers states to study because GOP-run states aren’t releasing data or allowing independent review anymore.
This is why. The data that have been released show horrific outcomes https://t.co/ok9zQwQz4W
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) January 16, 2023
Vouchers supposedly help poor kids but they “chiefly subsidize” kids who already attend private schools & their cost is borne by students “who attend the state’s underfunded public schools.” That’s what you call robbing the poor to help the rich. 1/2 https://t.co/HhFzINJ2us
— Derek W. Black (@DerekWBlack) February 13, 2023
IDRA knows that the best way to improve public schools is to invest in public education. This infographic outlines five of the many ways vouchers and other schemes are bad for public school students and bad for communities.https://t.co/38PkxuPHxr pic.twitter.com/mGyMXeAAB9
— IDRA (@IDRAedu) February 18, 2023
School Vouchers: There Is No Upside is from The Shanker Institute.
Politicians Want Universal School Vouchers. But What About The Public? is from Five Thirty Eight.
Republicans are suddenly going all-in on vouchers. Evidence shows they don’t improve education outcomes. https://t.co/QXVmhWHZ0q
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) March 29, 2023
Quick thread on my new review, via @NEPCtweet, of a report on funding “portability” & school choice: https://t.co/0dLxTwXXVP One of the things we’re hearing a lot from school choice advocates lately is “Fund students, not systems!” The implication is that we should just… 1/
— Jersey Jazzman (Official… no, really) (@jerseyjazzman) April 6, 2023
New: I did a fresh rewrite of my piece summarizing school voucher research. One big takeaway: with new universal programs, we’re in a brave new world since older studies focused on existing, more-targeted programs.https://t.co/xSa670sZdo
— Matt Barnum (@matt_barnum) May 30, 2023
$7,200 for Every Student: Arizona’s Ultimate Experiment in School Choice https://t.co/25043JxcLH pic.twitter.com/80nELcje7b
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) July 24, 2023
Private school vouchers lost a lot of battles, but they may have won the war. https://t.co/i7lorLEJuX
— Vox (@voxdotcom) September 5, 2023
Douglas Harris makes the free market argument against vouchers via @forbes https://t.co/yB9TNHVTqc
— Peter Greene (@palan57) November 1, 2023
‘Diplomas for sale: $465, no classes required. Inside one of Louisiana’s unapproved schools’ https://t.co/tlqq0mE11p
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) November 28, 2023
*Rather than democratizing education, Arizona’s school vouchers are subsidizing its most fortunate families, reinforcing existing disparities rather than mitigating them,* says @eduwonkette_jen Almost like this is the plan…. https://t.co/VxW9Ck1aTU pic.twitter.com/petpap1JbO
— Jennifer Berkshire (@BisforBerkshire) January 13, 2024
The bill for the school voucher bait and switch is coming due. My latest with @Edu_Historian on the rising tide of red ink swamping red state budgets https://t.co/PV0gVA4Xog
— Jennifer Berkshire (@BisforBerkshire) February 7, 2024
📢Your tax contribution isn’t deposited into your personal piggy bank📢
When you pay taxes, you aren’t putting money into a private savings account, where you can withdraw funds on a whim. Taxes are contributions to a collective pool, managed by our elected representatives. pic.twitter.com/vW0UVnyIiW
— Jen Jennings, PhD (@eduwonkette_jen) March 23, 2024
Why does the free mkt logic fail in education? A long thread below. Very relevant to current #vouchers #ESA debate. You can see the whole paper (ungated) here: https://t.co/OLrfF56Xi4 + journal version here: https://t.co/DC2ssgwg9a
— Douglas N. Harris (@douglasharris99) April 24, 2024
New research out of @BrookingsInst Arizona vouchers are overwhelmingly going to wealthier families.
The graphs in here are devastating.https://t.co/6U9ymuUqeL https://t.co/UykchuP5kt pic.twitter.com/jtxXmJILlM
— Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) May 7, 2024
A Conversation About School Choice is from Cult of Pedagogy.
School-voucher programs are currently in place in 20 states, with five launching universal voucher programs in 2023 alone. But reams of evidence show that vouchers negatively impact educational outcomes. Why do they persist? https://t.co/nLSsbyoEL6 pic.twitter.com/JoAX5moPBO
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) May 25, 2024
Not only is @nhannahjones correct, the data shows that the average public school teacher is more educated AND more experienced than the average private school teacher. In fact there’s only one category that private school teachers excel in:
Being white https://t.co/VC36HKyiJ4 pic.twitter.com/8RtE8DH2FH
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) May 25, 2024
It’s a lovely but delusional argument. Because poor children will never have the choices of wealthy people. The vouchers won’t pay for the schools the wealthy children attend and those schools won’t accept the poor students anyway. We should stop pretending vouchers exist due to… https://t.co/rdQ4R7VHCL
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 25, 2024
Further, you want to compare ALL public schools to the best private schools. The only real comparison, however, is to compare the highest achieving public schools with the highest achieving private ones. But again, we can’t even know that info.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 25, 2024
This comprehensive report is a must read on this topic! https://t.co/M9QQ56ildk
— Leda (@Ldev101) May 25, 2024
Vouchers undermine efforts to provide an excellent public education for all https://t.co/zIGc7jNAWE via @economicpolicy
— Peter Greene (@palan57) May 24, 2024
School choice is the wrong term here because what is the choice for the families who want to stay in the public schools that are now being forced to close because the governor is handing public money to private schools. This hyper-individualism is destroying the democratic fabric… https://t.co/0BeB5Wq3tE
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 28, 2024
Such a critical investigation if you care not just about public schools, but democracy. “Arizona is sending taxpayer money to religious schools — and billionaires see it as a model for the US” | CNN Politics https://t.co/ce1YqMzKvY
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) June 20, 2024
Weakening the role of schools as community anchors is a feature here, not a bug. If your goal is to *disrupt* the ability of people to band together to demand things – like adequately funded schools or decently paid teachers – school choice is your jam https://t.co/RiF4xWoJcc
— Jennifer Berkshire (@BisforBerkshire) July 10, 2024
*When schooling is all about me rather than all about us, then we’re all in deep trouble* – @DLabaree on the dangers of *funding students not systems* (and why you should read The Education Wars!) https://t.co/DEcLfakCTr
— Jennifer Berkshire (@BisforBerkshire) July 8, 2024
No state has ever written a blank check to ensure an adequate public education for every student, but Arizona did write a blank check for its private school voucher program. Now a perverse set of incentives are draining AZ public education. https://t.co/gOACT8Cgug
— Derek W. Black (@DerekWBlack) July 8, 2024
Voucher programs are terrible, but even by the low standards of voucher programs, Arizona’s program is a total catastrophe https://t.co/iBldSKxXEF
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) July 17, 2024
Time to Rein in Vouchers is from School Finance 101.
“Voucher advocates argue that today’s voucher systems are legal, and our current Supreme Court seems to agree, but that doesn’t change the fact vouchers will entangle the government and religion,” writes @douglasharris99. https://t.co/7XGdUQ25tu
— The Brookings Institution (@BrookingsInst) August 19, 2024
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