Dr. Lauren Foix is the director of policy and research for the Public School Forum of North Carolina. In this op-ed for the Salisbury Post, she explains why vouchers remain a failed policy.
On Nov. 5, voters in three states rejected private school voucher measures on their ballots. A majority (58 percent) of voters in Nebraska chose to repeal a recently passed voucher law. In Colorado, 55 percent voted against a proposed constitutional amendment to “establish a right to school choice.” And in Kentucky, Amendment 2, which would have allowed state dollars to be spent on private education, was defeated by a margin of 65 to 35 percent.
While across the country, we’ve seen growing momentum around private school voucher expansion by state lawmakers — especially in “red” states, it’s increasingly evident that these policies are unpopular among the general public. This is true in North Carolina as well — 71 percent of North Carolinians think increasing funding for traditional K-12 schools will do more to improve education than vouchers.
They are unpopular for good reason:
Private schools receiving vouchers are funded by taxpayers but lack responsibility — with minimal requirements for teacher credentials, curriculum, or reporting on student performance.
Recent research suggests that vouchers are harmful to student achievement.
Recent efforts to implement universal voucher programs allow taxpayer dollars to subsidize private education even for the most wealthy families, including those who already send their children to private schools.
Private schools receiving taxpayer-funded vouchers often use selective admissions policies that discriminate based on disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or academic achievement.
Vouchers redirect taxpayer dollars away from local public schools.
North Carolina lawmakers in the N.C. General Assembly voted in 2023 to make the state’s Opportunity Scholarship voucher program, originally created in 2013 for low-income children who had previously attended public schools, open to all families regardless of income. North Carolina is now one of 13 states with a “universal” voucher program. The expansion came with a significant increase in state funding allocated for vouchers.
