President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging budget bill contains a multi-billion scheme to establish a nationwide private school voucher plan.
Under the plan, the federal government would give a $1,700 tax credit for people who donate to groups that provide vouchers, euphemistically called “scholarships,” to students.
Although many states have established voucher plans, this would be the first program to operate on a national level. Since nearly 80% of private schools are religious, the plan will inevitably end up subsidizing sectarian institutions with taxpayer funds.
Critics, including Americans United, blasted the measure, pointing out that private school voucher plans have been rejected repeatedly by voters at the ballot box, in part because they threaten funding of public schools.
“The American people don’t like vouchers, which is why this harmful provision received bipartisan opposition,” said Americans United President and CEO Rachel Laser. “But President Trump and a majority in Congress ignored the will of the people and hatched the nation’s first national private school voucher scheme, advancing a Christian Nationalist agenda called for in Project 2025.”
Laser added, “Public funds belong in public schools, which are open to all and educate 90% of America’s students. With this voucher plan, Trump and Congress will divert billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools that indoctrinate and can discriminate against students and their families based on the schools’ beliefs.”