Latest news with #EducationalChoiceforChildrenAct
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Kansas schools and students face avalanche of scorn. Leaders don't have our best interests at heart.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., is shown on Nov. 25, 2024. (Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom) As a Kansas public school teacher and parent, I am deeply concerned about ongoing attacks on public education, most recently through executive actions by the Trump administration that include eliminating the Department of Education and targeting the free speech of students. Halting federal support for our schools and students will ensure historically marginalized students do not receive equal opportunities, will take away resources such as student lunches and special education programming, and will stifle learning communities. Despite these attacks, educators and communities are showing fight and resilience that is cause for hope. Some leaders in Washington are pushing the Educational Choice for Children Act. If enacted nationwide, ECCA would divert billions of taxpayer dollars from our public schools to subsidize private institutions. In fact, similar bills were proposed locally in the Kansas Legislature, and recently, a coalition of organizations, including Game On for Kansas Schools, Showing Up for Racial Justice Education Core, Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County, among many others, educated the public about the dangers of these with multiple screenings of the documentary 'Backpack Full of Cash.' The Kansas Legislature recently passed a budget that cruelly underfunds special education, but due to the work of pro-public education groups, the voucher bill did not come up for a vote this session. Voucher programs only worsen ongoing budget cuts to public school children, benefiting a privileged few while leaving low-income and rural students with fewer resources. Most recently, the Trump administration issued an executive order on school discipline, implying that school discipline had gotten worse as a result of the policies of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In fact, the school-to-prison pipeline, or the more nuanced school and prison nexus, which is caused by disproportionate policing and punishment leveled on Black and brown students, is a crisis that Trump's executive order will only exacerbate. While it is true that serious improvements need to be made in terms of how our system relates to educators, school staff, students and communities to improve schools for all, it is also true that investments in prisons and police have exceeded holistic investments in educating our young people. In fact, policing is nearly the greatest expenditure for school districts nationally. With Trump reversing the nominal pressure of past Democratic administrations on this crisis, we can expect even greater pressure on schools and teachers to increasingly criminalize marginalized students. Unfortunately, attacks on students, teachers, and communities do not stop with voucher bills and executive actions. Distressingly, there is bipartisan support at both the Kansas and national levels for punishing speech, especially in schools and against students who support Palestine or are simply critical of Israel. It is also widely documented that immigrant students are struggling to learn along with their peers under increasing criminalization by the Trump administration. In fact, parents are reporting to school staff that they are afraid to bring their kids to schools because of widespread ICE raids ordered by this administration. Resources for educators have popped up to help support immigrant students who are under attack. Families are also fighting back. In February, A Day Without Immigrants showed massive resistance to anti-immigrant attitudes and policies. Furthermore, the GOP attacks on transgender students, and LGBTQ+ students more broadly, has reached a fever pitch and are being used to drive a wedge between Kansans who would otherwise stand for public education access for all children. Republicans voted to override Democratic Gov. Laura's Kelly veto and target some of the state's most vulnerable children. According to advocacy organization Loud Light: Legislators 'expanded their targeting of LGBTQ kids by providing legal protections to potential foster or adoptive parents with anti-LGBTQ beliefs, no matter how extreme.' Public education is the foundation of a multiracial democracy. If we are serious about ensuring quality education for all students — not just the wealthiest — we must reject efforts to defund public schools and criminalize our youth. Michael Rebne is a teacher in Kansas City, Kansas, a leader with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ-KC) and a Board Member of Justice for Wyandotte. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opponents raise alarm over school vouchers in GOP budget bill
Opponents of school vouchers are raising concerns as House Republicans attempt to push through federal legislation in their 'big, beautiful bill' advancing President Trump's agenda. If successful, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) will create scholarships parents can use to send their students to private schools, available in all 50 states. Those opposed fear the damage the measure could do to public schools and disadvantaged students. School choice advocates were giddy after finding out ECCA was put into the reconciliation package, knowing it means the legislation would only have to be passed by a simple majority of members in the House and the Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans. The National Education Association, the largest teachers' union in the country, immediately reached out to representatives. 'We oppose creating a $20 billion tax credit voucher scheme and allowing 529 accounts to be used for home schooling,' Marc Egan, the director of government relations for the union, wrote in a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee. Opponents list several concerns with the bill, including the weakening of public schools, especially in rural areas where other options are not available, and the lack of federal regulations on private schools or homeschooling. Those concerns are what slowed down the school choice movement in Texas, which only recently passed its own bill to adopt education savings accounts (ESAs) after years of opposition from rural Republicans. ESAs are accounts given to parents from the government with a certain amount of money to cover private school or homeschooling costs. In Texas, the program will cost $1 billion in its first year. 'Voucher schemes are transparent attempts to diminish parental choice by syphoning money away from public schools to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. The research shows that vouchers hurt student achievement, go 70 percent to families with kids already in private school, and that private schools then increase tuition in response,' said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. The ECCA would create a federal tax credit for individuals who donate to groups that provide school choice scholarships to students. The scholarships would be available for students from families with incomes up to 300 percent of their area's median gross income. One of the biggest concerns for opponents is the lack of restrictions over to what type of schools these scholarships could go. Private schools are not upheld to the same federal regulations, making them immune to investigations by the Education Department if concerns of discrimination are raised. While the school choice movement says their goal is to create competition in education, the measure could result in wildly different classroom experiences for students. 'I don't understand, if this bill passes and is signed into law, why only certain schools in a community have to be accountable to their local communities because they're being supported with tax dollars,' said David Schuler, executive director of the School Superintendents Association. 'You could have two schools a block away, one a private school with voucher dollars, another public school without voucher dollars, both being supported by those either local or national taxpayers, and one with no accountability measures,' Schuler added. The school choice movement had seen multiple successes since the pandemic, but it has also repeatedly fallen short in blue and even some red states. More than a dozen states have rejected school choice measures, most recently in November, when ballot measures failed in Kentucky, Colorado and Nebraska. Advocates describe the ECCA as a natural next step. 'As with the Civil Rights Act of two generations ago, Congress needs to step in and bypass that opposition to education freedom where it exists in states,' Peter Murphy, senior advisor of Invest in Education coalition, previously told The Hill. But the success of the ECCA in reconciliation is not assured as congressional Republicans are deeply fractured over the sweeping package, with some wanting deeper cuts to government spending while moderates fear the impact on federal benefits such as Medicaid. With Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) facing razor-thin margins in the lower chamber, hard-liners such as GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas) and Ralph Norman (S.C.) have already said they are planning to vote against the bill. And even if the legislation does survive the House, Senate Republicans are already voicing their own doubts, too. While concerns of how ECCA will affect students are top of mind for critics, the legislation's dollar-for-dollar tax credit is also under criticism as it will give these scholarship programs a leg up over tax credits for other nonprofits. 'It really becomes a financial tax donation, right?' said Schuler. 'And I think it's going to hit other nonprofits. It's going to hit their revenue significantly. And I just, again, I hope other nonprofits think about that, and I hope our legislators think about' that, he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Opponents raise alarm over school vouchers in GOP budget bill
Opponents of school vouchers are raising concerns as House Republicans attempt to push through federal legislation in their 'big, beautiful bill' advancing President Trump's agenda. If successful, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) will create scholarships parents can use to send their students to private schools, available in all 50 states. Those opposed fear the damage the measure could do to public schools and disadvantaged students. School choice advocates were giddy after finding out ECCA was put into the reconciliation package, knowing it means the legislation would only have to be passed by a simple majority of members in the House and the Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans. The National Education Association, the largest teachers' union in the country, immediately reached out to representatives. 'We oppose creating a $20 billion tax credit voucher scheme and allowing 529 accounts to be used for home schooling,' Marc Egan, the director of government relations for the union, wrote in a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee. Opponents list several concerns with the bill, including the weakening of public schools, especially in rural areas where other options are not available, and the lack of federal regulations on private schools or homeschooling. Those concerns are what slowed down the school choice movement in Texas, which only recently passed its own bill to adopt education savings accounts (ESAs) after years of opposition from rural Republicans. ESAs are accounts given to parents from the government with a certain amount of money to cover private school or homeschooling costs. In Texas, the program will cost $1 billion in its first year. 'Voucher schemes are transparent attempts to diminish parental choice by syphoning money away from public schools to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. The research shows that vouchers hurt student achievement, go 70 percent to families with kids already in private school, and that private schools then increase tuition in response,' said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. The ECCA would create a federal tax credit for individuals who donate to groups that provide school choice scholarships to students. The scholarships would be available for students from families with incomes up to 300 percent of their area's median gross income. One of the biggest concerns for opponents is the lack of restrictions over to what type of schools these scholarships could go. Private schools are not upheld to the same federal regulations, making them immune to investigations by the Education Department if concerns of discrimination are raised. While the school choice movement says their goal is to create competition in education, the measure could result in wildly different classroom experiences for students. 'I don't understand, if this bill passes and is signed into law, why only certain schools in a community have to be accountable to their local communities because they're being supported with tax dollars,' said David Schuler, executive director of the School Superintendents Association. 'You could have two schools a block away, one a private school with voucher dollars, another public school without voucher dollars, both being supported by those either local or national taxpayers, and one with no accountability measures,' Schuler added. The school choice movement had seen multiple successes since the pandemic, but it has also repeatedly fallen short in blue and even some red states. More than a dozen states have rejected school choice measures, most recently in November, when ballot measures failed in Kentucky, Colorado and Nebraska. Advocates describe the ECCA as a natural next step. 'As with the Civil Rights Act of two generations ago, Congress needs to step in and bypass that opposition to education freedom where it exists in states,' Peter Murphy, senior advisor of Invest in Education coalition, previously told The Hill. But the success of the ECCA in reconciliation is not assured as congressional Republicans are deeply fractured over the sweeping package, with some wanting deeper cuts to government spending while moderates fear the impact on federal benefits such as Medicaid. With Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) facing razor-thin margins in the lower chamber, hard-liners such as GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas) and Ralph Norman (S.C.) have already said they are planning to vote against the bill. And even if the legislation does survive the House, Senate Republicans are already voicing their own doubts, too. While concerns of how ECCA will affect students are top of mind for critics, the legislation's dollar-for-dollar tax credit is also under criticism as it will give these scholarship programs a leg up over tax credits for other nonprofits. 'It really becomes a financial tax donation, right?' said Schuler. 'And I think it's going to hit other nonprofits. It's going to hit their revenue significantly. And I just, again, I hope other nonprofits think about that, and I hope our legislators think about' that, he added.
Newsweek
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
School Vouchers Are a Big, Fat Tax Break for the Wealthy
Tucked within House Republicans' 389-page budget reconciliation package, which President Donald Trump has dubbed his "big, beautiful bill," is a nationwide private school voucher proposal called the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA, H.R. 833, S. 292). If passed, ECCA would trigger a massive and unprecedented transfer of public dollars to private, mostly religious schools—$136 billion over the next 10 years. For all their talk of "parental rights" and "returning education to the states," the bill's supporters evidently see no irony or issue with a plan that would have the federal government impose school vouchers on all 50 states and Washington, D.C., overriding the authority of legislatures and overruling the will of voters. In a recent Newsweek piece, Rep. Elise Stefanik claimed "entrenched special interests" are blocking the advancement of school privatization policies. But the reality is the American people have rejected vouchers every time and in every state they've been on the ballot. Just last November, voters in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Colorado all rejected voucher schemes. A construction worker looks on as educators and various organizations from across the state of Tennessee march to the Amazon headquarters in downtown Nashville in protest of Governor Bill Lee's school voucher program on March... A construction worker looks on as educators and various organizations from across the state of Tennessee march to the Amazon headquarters in downtown Nashville in protest of Governor Bill Lee's school voucher program on March 12, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. MoreGiven vouchers' abysmal track record with the public, it's understandable their proponents would like to avoid having a full and fair hearing on ECCA. By stuffing it deep inside a giant budget package, politicians are counting on us not noticing that just beneath their winsome title and talking points is yet another giveaway to the wealthy and another gutting of our public institutions. They hope we'll be fooled by tired tropes and long-busted myths. Distasteful as it is, this tactic, too, is understandable: When decades of peer-reviewed, independent research have shown vouchers don't work, what's a school privatizer to do but spread propaganda and empty exhortations like, "We know educational choice works," and, "Let's seize this opportunity to give every child—not just the lucky few—a real shot at success." Voucher proponents' talking points are specious at best. At worst, they're downright defrauding. The truth is, time and again, studies find students using vouchers tend to fare worse academically than their public school peers. And while voucher proponents like to talk about the limitations of zip codes, they ignore the fact that these programs do not magically create more educational options for millions of rural Americans who don't have a private option nearby. In reality, they don't actually improve access for folks in urban centers either, since it's private schools, not parents, that select Stefanik's "lucky few" and reject the rest. Unlike public schools, which are required by law to serve all students, private schools can — and too often do—discriminate. They deny students based on disability and ability, religion and nonreligion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and more. A parent or guardian's refusal to endorse an anti-LGBTQ+ "statement of faith," for example, could be grounds for the exclusion or expulsion of their child. And in states that have passed voucher laws, some private schools have raised their tuition to continue pricing out lower-income families. Students with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to discrimination by private schools and are disproportionately disciplined and excluded by charter schools. Yet, in order to participate in voucher programs, their families are compelled, usually unwittingly, to relinquish the rights and protections they are entitled to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including due process and dispute resolution. Stefanik and others promote the privatization of schools by telling a familiar tale about heroes (vouchers) rescuing victims (students) from a very scary villain ("failing government schools"). It's riveting stuff, a heart-tugger, but it's fiction. In state after state, the data show 70 percent of voucher recipients are not switching from public to private but were already attending private schools without state aid. Vouchers are neither an evidence-based education policy nor a benevolent gift to low-income families fleeing community schools. They are a tax scheme designed to benefit the wealthiest Americans at the harm and expense of most everyone else. Above the law and the locally elected boards that govern our nation's public schools, privatization programs are rife with the very fraud, waste, and abuse this administration has pretended to care about chainsawing from the federal budget. In a bill brimming with handouts for the wealthy, ultra-rich voucher supporters could net billions of dollars every year under ECCA. That's because, in addition to cash contributions, the proposal also permits donations of stock, meaning donors could actually turn a profit by claiming both the tax credit and avoiding capital gains tax. In fact, the tax shelter ECCA offers is so lucrative, it's all but guaranteed the bill's escalator clause will be triggered each year, meaning the program will grow bigger and costlier whether the program achieves anything it purports to. How efficient! And while public school teachers crowdfund classroom supplies and your local district hosts a bake sale to support the band, it's worth remembering all those billions of dollars would otherwise be taxable—the fair share owed by those wealthy individuals and corporations. Instead, if ECCA passes, that revenue will no longer be used to support the public goods and services that benefit and answer to us all but be siphoned into a discriminatory, unaccountable, and sectarian system. Proponents have long invoked civil rights language to promote vouchers, a disturbing rhetorical choice given vouchers originated as a tool for southern white parents to avoid the Supreme Court's desegregation order in Brown v. Board of Education. As we approach the 71st anniversary of that landmark decision, we've learned vouchers continue to promote racial and socioeconomic segregation. Today's privatizers have adopted a different but still disconcerting tone, insisting "educational freedom" is a "sacred" and "moral" right. But ours is a democratic—not a theocratic—nation, governed by a godless Constitution that guarantees each of us the religious freedom to believe and worship whatever and however we choose. By subsidizing private faith and sectarian instruction, ECCA would infringe on that foundational civil right for nonreligious and religious Americans alike. It is a fundamentally un-American proposal to compel taxpayers to support religions with which they do not agree. It is, however, perfectly on brand for religious nationalists, dominionists, and integralists. So, the next time a politician says things like, "It's time to start defending the future of our children," or, "Parents—not politicians—should determine what's best for their kids," while advocating for demonstrably harmful legislation that would force budget cuts in the classrooms where the vast majority of American students learn, I hope you'll recognize the rhetoric for what it is: a big, ugly lie. Melina Cohen is the director of strategic communications & policy engagement for American Atheists, a national nonprofit working to protect civil rights, advance political equality, achieve social inclusion, and empower atheists and other nonreligious people through advocacy, education, and community building. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘A True Game Changer:' Unprecedented School Choice Tax Credit Part of GOP Bill
A historic bill creating a first-of-its-kind, nationwide tax credit scholarship program to expand private school choice is part of a sweeping Republican tax bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. 'It is a true game changer that we think would really supercharge school choice across the country,' said John Schilling, senior advisor for the American Federation for Children, a conservative school choice advocacy group. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The Educational Choice for Children Act would provide money to families in all 50 states making less than three times their area's median income. The recipients, including families who homeschool, could spend it on a large range of education-related expenses, including private and parochial school tuition, books and other instructional material, online classes, private tutoring, fees for dual enrollment and educational therapies. Related The measure would create $5 billion in annual tax credits starting next year for individuals who donate cash or stocks to nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organizations, which have discretion over handing out the funds. Donors would receive an unprecedented 1:1 return, allowing them to reduce their taxable income by $1 for every dollar donated, up to $5,000 or 10% of their adjusted gross income. Currently, 1.2 million students are being served by 76 private school choice programs enacted in 34 states, according to Patrick Wolf, graduate director of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Those programs include vouchers, which give parents public money directly for private school tuition, and Education Savings Accounts, which set aside public money for a range of educational expenses. Twenty-one of those states already have tax credit scholarship programs, according to EdChoice. That number might be about to radically change. 'If the ECCA is enacted and the maximum amount of tax credits … are claimed through individual donations, basically the number of students being supported by private school choice programs across the country would double in one year,' Wolf told The 74. 'A 100% increase in a single year in the number of people being served by private school choice programs. That's a big deal.' Pro-choice advocates and conservative leaders celebrated the bill's advancement, arguing it will give unprecedented school choice access to families across the country who have historically been locked out, including in Democratic-controlled states where lawmakers generally oppose private school choice. Children, they say, will finally have the opportunity to be matched with the learning environment and tools that suit them best, largely regardless of how much money their parents make. And the tax incentives will allow individuals to fund it. Related Meanwhile, critics expressed serious concern, claiming the far-reaching measure would essentially use taxpayer money to fund largely unregulated private schools primed for discrimination and that loopholes in the bill allow for a system akin to a tax shelter. They also argue wealthier individuals in urban areas — both those donating and those receiving funds — stand to benefit the most, while those in underserved rural areas could be harmed. And, they say, the $5 billion in taxes the government will lose out on has to come from somewhere and will likely drain resources from public schools, which serve the majority of U.S. students. 'This would be a back door way of creating what is essentially a very large, nation-wide private school voucher program, and it would be created by sneaking it into this big budget reconciliation bill,' said Jon Valant, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who authored a report arguing against the measure. 'It may very well pass without most Americans knowing what it is and what it does.' Because the choice act is part of the fast-track budget reconciliation process, it faces an easier road to passage in the Senate, requiring a simple 51-vote majority, rather than 60, and is not subject to stalling by the filibuster. In the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority, Speaker Mike Johnson has said he expects to have the budget bill done by Memorial Day. With a $5 billion cap, Valant pointed out, the tax credit scholarship 'would overnight become one of the largest federal education programs that we have. As one of those programs, it just doesn't meet the kinds of standards that I think we should expect for public spending in education.' Related While public funding of school choice has been around since at least the late '90s, he said there's been a shift in the philosophy and incentives behind the measures. Historically, they were far more targeted to lower-income students or those with disabilities. But, 'this newer wave of private school choice policies reflects very different motivations,' he said, arguing that when programs have almost-universal eligibility and are set up in ways that help wealthier people, 'it's really not at all equity- and opportunity-motivated policy.' Related One way families with greater wealth are incentivized to donate? Stockholders stand to benefit through a loophole that would exempt them from paying capital gains taxes. For example, if an individual were to donate $10,000 worth of stock that they had originally purchased at $2,000, they'd still get back the full $10,000 in tax credits without ever having to pay capital gains on the $8,000 profit. If the choice act passes, it would run through 2029, with the ability to increase the cap by up to 5% each year. It's part of the 389-page 'one big, beautiful bill' approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday after a marathon six-hour hearing by 26-19 vote along party lines. Among many other provisions, the controversial bill would make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent, cut funding to Medicaid and food stamps and extend the current $2,000 Child Tax Credit while raising it to $2,500 per child through 2028. The specifics for the tax credit scholarship in the omnibus tax bill differ from the original act introduced in January in three major ways: the $10 billion cap has been cut in half; only individual taxpayers, not corporations, are eligible to donate; and participating private and parochial schools must follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which legally mandates support services and accommodations for special education students. 'That's a huge regulatory burden for small private schools, and in a sense, is potentially a poison pill for the legislation,' Wolf said. But experts emphasized that the bill must still go through multiple committees and the reconciliation process, so is subject to significant changes. Pro-choice advocates in particular are hoping the final language more closely mirrors that of the original bill, which allowed corporations to participate and did not require private and religious schools to follow IDEA. A version of the bill was introduced under the first Trump administration but didn't really gain momentum at the time. A new version was re-introduced this January by Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisania Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, and a number of his colleagues. 'For years I've advocated for school choice with my Educational Choice for Children Act. I am pleased to see it included in the big, beautiful bill,' Cassidy said in a statement. 'Expanding President Trump's tax cuts is about preserving the American Dream. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their child makes the dream possible.'
