President Donald Trump’s longstanding vision to expand school choice by pumping private and religious schools with federal dollars is one step closer to becoming a reality.
House Republicans signaled that they back the president’s private school-voucher agenda when the House Committee on Ways and Means approved a GOP-led budget proposal on May 14 that would allow the federal government to spend $5 billion per year for four years on nonpublic schools.
“This is going to be able to deliver scholarships for the families who need it most, so that they can attend private and parochial schools,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-New York) at the committee hearing. “This bill actually benefits middle-class families and working families like the ones I represent in Staten Island and Brooklyn.”
Families who earn under three times their local median income and who receive the federal scholarships created by the program could choose to spend the estimated $5,000 they receive on tuition or other schooling needs at private schools, parochial schools or homeschooling. The average private school in New York state costs $21,903 per year, according to the website Private School Review.
House Republicans have proposed that the program would be funded through tax credits. For every dollar an American donates to a nonprofit that grants scholarships, the federal government will reduce the person’s taxable income by a dollar. The donation limit is capped at $5,000 or 10% of a person’s taxable income.
Trump signs executive order Bolstering school choice
A win for the larger GOP-led school choice movement
Trump directed the U.S. Department of Education and multiple federal agencies to prioritize school choice programs shortly after he entered office.
The president’s support and the federal funding proposal add to the momentum for school choice in the United States particularly in GOP-led states.
Families in Texas can now use public funds to pay for a nonpublic education after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a $1 billion school voucher bill into law. The program there allows for government spending of public funds on private schools, including religious schools, and homeschooling.
At least 35 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico already have some school choice programs without federal dollars to back them, according to a national school choice dashboard from EdChoice, a national nonprofit group that advocates for school choice legislation.
Texas Gov. Abbott: Signs school vouchers into law. What we know about the school choice bill
What do people say about school choice?
Supporters for school choice largely argue that parents should have a right to choose where their kids attend school regardless of the cost and be supported with tax dollars, arguing that local public schools are often academically inferior to private or parochial schools.
“If a child is stuck in a failing school, a mother should be able to move her child to a better one,” wrote U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who earlier this year reintroduced the Educational Choice for Children Act, on May 14 on X. “That’s what my school choice bill does—and it’s in the House tax plan. A better educated American people is a better America.”
School voucher program opponents often say the programs benefit wealthy families already enrolled in private schools, and who already can afford them. They also argue that school choice programs strip crucial state funding from public schools that are required to take every student, while not everyone lives near private schools or can be accepted into them
“Your expansive definition includes an entirely new $20 billion voucher system that seems to encourage parents to abandon our public schools,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX.) to House Republicans about the provision to their budget reconciliation bill at a committee’s markup session on May 14.
Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP advances bill to spend $5 billion on private school vouchers
