Private and religious schools ALREADY receive $470 million annually in taxpayer funding through Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) school voucher programs. Schools that receive tax dollars through these programs can and do engage in blatant and explicit discrimination against students because of their religious beliefs, academics, disability, LGBTQ+ status, pregnancy or abortion, and more.

Sending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to private and religious voucher schools each year does not create educational “choice” for families and students. Instead, the EITC and OSTC voucher programs create the illusion of choice by funding discriminatory private and religious schools that can refuse to enroll any student for almost any reason.

Research has found policies stating that students would not be considered for admission if their parents do not attend a “Bible-believing” church or are not born-again Christians. School policies stated that they would deny admission to students with “physical or mental handicaps” or if their academic or social-emotional needs exceed a regular classroom. Other policies stated students would be expelled if they became pregnant, were pregnant and refused to attend Christian pregnancy counseling, or were part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Additionally, allocating state tax dollars to fund private and religious voucher schools does not move the state closer to compliance with the Commonwealth Court order to “provide for every student to receive a meaningful opportunity to succeed academically, socially, and civically, which requires that all students have access to a comprehensive, effective, and contemporary system of public education.”

Instead, directing public dollars into discriminatory voucher schools makes compliance with the court ruling harder to achieve.

Every public dollar that funds tuition at a private or religious school that picks and chooses the students it enrolls leaves fewer dollars available to be spent in the state budget, undermining the Commonwealth’s ability to fully fund public schools that educate every student who walks through their doors.

Click HERE to read, "Pennsylvania Voucher Schools Use Tax Dollars to Advance Discrimination."