May Roberts: Why I traveled to Washington, D.C., to oppose the national school voucher plan

By May Roberts

Last week, I boarded a plane to Washington, D.C., to defend the future of public education in Idaho – and across the country. I went to speak with lawmakers about a deeply flawed and dangerous proposal tucked into the U.S. House’s budget: the creation of a national private school voucher program. Lawmakers in Congress are pushing a plan to create a national private school voucher program. If passed, it would shift $20 billion taxpayer dollars over the next four years into a voucher system that primarily benefits private and religious schools – with nearly no oversight.

As an Idaho public-school graduate, I know what underfunded public schools look like. Idaho already ranks dead last in per-pupil spending – $5,636 below the national average. Our public schools are under-resourced, our teachers overburdened, and our rural communities often struggle just to keep classrooms open. Our teachers rise above these challenges and deliver quality education to their students. A national voucher program, however, would only perpetuate this crisis, funneling desperately needed funds for public schools into private institutions with little to no oversight.

The plan gives wealthy donors massive tax breaks to fund private school vouchers, even allowing them to donate stocks and avoid capital gains taxes. In Idaho, this would cost our state nearly $2 million in lost revenue over the next decade – money that could go to teacher salaries, school repairs, or student support services.

And since these donations get a dollar-for-dollar match from the federal government, it is about three times as generous as what someone would receive from their donation to every other charitable cause–incentivizing donations to school voucher funds over donations to veterans’ organizations, houses of worship and food banks.

Supporters claim this is about “school choice.” But in practice, it gives private schools the choice – not families. These schools don’t have to accept every child. They can turn away students based on religion, disability, academic performance or sexual orientation. Meanwhile, public schools welcome every child who walks through their doors.

What’s more, these voucher-funded private schools don’t have to meet the same standards or testing requirements as public schools.

They aren’t even required to hire certified teachers. Proponents argue that vouchers drive competition between public and private schools. But how do you have fair competition when one team doesn’t have to play by the rules? That’s not fair to students, and it’s not fair to taxpayers.

Earlier this year, Idaho’s own Legislature passed a voucher bill despite overwhelming public opposition. The governor’s office received over 37,000 calls and emails on House Bill 93 – 86% were against it. Idahoans don’t want public dollars to fund private school tuition. We’ve made that clear.

That’s why I went to Washington – to remind Sens. Crapo and Risch that Idahoans value strong public schools.

Instead of investing in a second, unaccountable education system for the few, let’s invest in the public schools that serve the many.

Our kids – and our communities – deserve nothing less. Contact your senators and let them know you want them to remove the national school voucher from the budget.

May Roberts is a policy analyst at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, where she has worked for the past three years focusing on education and tax policy. She holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from Portland State University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy from the College of Idaho. A proud graduate of Idaho public schools, May was raised in Nampa and now lives in Boise.