VoucherFAIL

It seems that it’s no coincidence that National Catholic Schools Week follows National School Choice Week. After all, in most states, the vast majority of students receiving vouchers use those vouchers to attend private, religious schools. And, it’s no secret that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops supports the creation and reauthorization of private school vouchers throughout the country.

Last year, Nevada enacted the most expansive voucher program in the nation: a universal Education Savings Account program. This type of program allows any public-school eligible student in the state to participate, regardless of economic need. Not surprisingly, the result is that the students taking advantage of the voucher program are the wealthiest students, i.e. those students who already have the resources to attend private schools on their own.

Yesterday, the Tennessee House Finance Committee voted to approve a voucher bill that would provide vouchers to students zoned to attend failing public schools in the state. The bill, HB 1049, passed by only one vote, and it faced bipartisan opposition. One committee member, Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester) voiced his opposition to the bill:

“I think you’re trying to open up a Pandora’s box. You don’t have any idea where these children are going to end up going to school … what kind of strange ideology might be taught at this school besides reading writing and arithmetic. I’m here to tell you that in a religious private school, the ideas swirling about those young impressionable children will take hold. That really concerns me.”

One of the growing trends among voucher proponents in recent years is to create Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Last year alone, two states – Arizona and Florida – expanded their ESAs, and three other states – Nevada, Mississippi, and Tennessee – created new ESAs. This year, Senator Ted Cruz has already introduced a bill in Congress that would create an ESA program in the District of Columbia.

ESAs are just vouchers cloaked in a different name. ESA programs use the funds that a state would otherwise spend on a student to attend public schools and deposits that money into an account for parents to use on other schooling options, including private school tuition. And unlike voucher programs, where there are generally stipulations on who can qualify to receive a voucher, such as income level or disability, ESAs don’t always require such criteria. For example, Nevada’s ESA program is open to any public school student in the state.

It’s no secret that vouchers often fail to provide students the same opportunities, resources, and constitutional and statutory rights that students in public schools otherwise receive. And, previous studies have also been dubious about whether voucher students actually achieve greater academic results. For example, the Department of Education’s final report on the D.C. voucher program showed that students who received vouchers perform no better in math or reading than students who did not.

Now, there’s a new study out of Louisiana that proves that students with vouchers actually perform worse than their non-voucher peers. According to the study, students in the voucher program achieved lower test scores than those in public schools – as much as 50% lower scores in math in particular. And, the study found that the vouchers especially hurt low-income students, who are the students the program is designed to help.