Raise Your Hand Texas released a report on the myths and realities of school vouchers that is worth a a revisit as Senate and House committees debate school vouchers. Every voucher program is different and they go by many different names, but the basic idea is the same—state funding is diverted from public education to cover all or part of a student’s tuition at a private or religious school. Promoted under the guise of offering choice to parents and students, vouchers undermine public education funding to serve few at the expense of many.
As pointed out in the Raise Your Hand Texas report, private schools have the right to reject students on past academic performance and there is no guarantee a voucher will cover full private school tuition. For students who’ve struggled academically or whose families can’t afford the tuition gap, vouchers provide no choice at all.
To ensure that the five million school children of Texas are college and career ready we need to invest in public education, not vouchers.
