School vouchers are nothing but taxpayer-funded scams, cannibalizing our public education system for the benefit of for-profit and religious private schools.

In fact, the reckless expansion of school vouchers in Sheboygan and Neenah, Wisconsin has led to a whopping 35% and 44% increase in local taxpayer burden, respectively. They’re both small towns too. Imagine how much the cost is in major metropolitan areas like Madison or Milwaukee.

And for what? To line the pockets of private, predominantly religious schools, as studies show that 95% of voucher programs support religious institutions. It’s a blatant robbery of public funds for private gain. Public school districts facing this threat are on life support, especially in small towns and rural communities where public schools are often underfunded to begin with.

That’s why campaigns to stop school vouchers are becoming a bipartisan issue. It's a matter of survival for our public education. Even in the conservative stronghold of Texas, rural Republican legislators, who traditionally would align with Governor Gregg Abbott, are actively voting down his push for a statewide voucher program.

Let’s be very clear who benefits from school voucher programs the most.

Private schools are allowed to cherry-pick which students to accept and which to reject. That means, school vouchers help facilitate a two-tiered education system, where private schools cater to the chosen privileged few. Meanwhile public schools are left to educate everyone else with even less resources than before.

Despite claims that vouchers give parents choices, in Illinois schools participating in voucher programs during the 2022-23 school year, not one Black student received a scholarship at more than half of the schools. Latinos had only a slightly better record, with no voucher recipients at about a third of the schools.

Instead of diverting funds away from public schools, states must focus on strengthening our public education system with more funding not less. We must invest in improvements, infrastructure, and our dedicated educators, not give away tax dollars to religious institutions and for-profit private schools.

Tell leaders on your State Board of Education to vote against school voucher scams and stop hurting public schools, students and teachers with taxpayer handouts to private schools by adding your name now.