A recent analysis by the Washington Post revealed that many families are using school vouchers for religious schools. In a number of states — including Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, Indiana, Florida, and Pennsylvania — more than half of vouchers are being used for faith-based schools. Children receiving a quality education is often high on the priority list for parents, and the increasing politicization of public schools contributes to parents using school vouchers for religious education.
For example, participating schools in Wisconsin’s Parental Choice Program (WPCP) are dominantly religious and report an increase in students attending WPCP schools. Comparing the 2022-23 school year to 2023-24, students under the WPCP increased by the thousands. The Washington Post report indicates similar findings, as over 700,000 students are on the voucher system in five states this year, constituting a significant portion of the nation’s 4.7 million private school attendees.
Understanding School Choice
School choice programs allow parents to send their children to private or religious schools by reducing tuition costs. These programs are funded from state income and sales tax and go toward Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) or school vouchers. School vouchers distribute the cost a state would pay for a student’s public education directly to the student’s family to use for private school fees. Taxpayers can also donate directly to charities and nonprofits that fund scholarships and receive tax credits for their giving. (READ MORE: K-12 School Choice Will Improve Higher Education)
Sixteen states — many of which lean conservative — have adopted school voucher programs. This is a growing trend for other states as well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hopes to pass a ballot measure that enables school choice in the state’s next legislative session, and Oregonians are also signing petitions to get a measure for a school voucher program on the ballot.
Rejecting Public Schools
The lack of actual education in public schools is alarming to parents, and rightfully so. Perhaps decreased enrollment at public schools is due to parents not wanting schools to tell their 8-year-old child they can choose their gender, or unwarranted and indecent exposure to LGBTQ ideology. Elementary students do not need to be welcomed by a “trans crosswalk” or staff wearing pride shirts, as recently occurred at the Davis Joint Unified School District. Students should be spending their day learning a variety of essential subjects like writing, arithmetic, and science instead of debating what gender their “gender euphoric” teacher is that day.
Public opinion toward the education system is currently low, with half of U.S. adults believing that public K-12 education is going in the wrong direction, according to the Pew Research Center. Public schools are shifting their focus to a curriculum that pushes Critical Race Theory (CRT). Epoch Education CEO Dr. Nancy Done, a diversity, equity, and inclusion trainer for the public school system, wants schools to remove employees not complicit with CRT, calling them a “poison to culture and climate.” Portland Public Schools have started to implement handbooks for teachers to instruct students on how to advocate for the liberation of Palestine.
It is a wise decision for parents to send their children to private and religious schools that encourage and promote academic success. School voucher programs provide a way for parents to have more options in what schools would be best for their kids. The government should not be in control of how parents raise their children. Parents should decide how their children are taught, and if religious schools provide what they want, so be it.
Critics of school choice, such as the National School Boards Association, claim that school vouchers take away funding from public schools, which the organization claims lowers the quality of education given to public school students. A plethora of studies point to the contrary, including one that indicated higher test scores among public school students in districts where school choice is available.
Public schools should not be discouraged by these findings but rather use this as an opportunity to reevaluate their priorities. The education system in both private and public sects should be focused on teaching children how to read, write, and think for themselves. School vouchers are a way for Americans to exercise proper freedom of choice in where their taxpayer dollars are spent and allow parents to choose the best education for their children.
