The Freedom From Religion Foundation cautions that the almost unrestrained expansion of so-called school choice programs continues to overwhelmingly divert public education dollars into private, mostly religious, schools while undermining our public school system.

National School Choice Week, observed Jan. 25–31, is a conjured-up PR campaign for voucher programs, education savings accounts (ESAs) and tax-credit schemes that redirect taxpayer funds away from public schools. Despite slick marketing and heavy political spending, these programs are neither about “choice” nor about improving education outcomes.

“School vouchers are a massive transfer of public money to private religious institutions at the expense of our public schools,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “They weaken public schools, erode accountability and force most taxpayers to subsidize religious instruction in which they disbelieve.”

Public money, religious indoctrination
The majority of private schools participating in voucher programs are religious, nearly 70 percent, and 76 percent of private-school students attend a religious school. In many voucher states, the numbers are even more lopsided. For instance, in Arizona roughly 96 percent of voucher recipients attend religious schools.

Voucher programs therefore function as a public subsidy for religious education, violating the fundamental constitutional principle that no taxpayer should not be compelled to support religion, especially someone else’s. While public schools welcome all students, religious and nonreligious alike, preserving a neutrality that serves all, religiously segregated schools typically require prayer, religious instruction and adherence to faith-based doctrine as a condition of enrollment.

No academic benefit, less oversight
Despite decades of promises, voucher programs have failed to deliver better academic outcomes. Numerous studies show voucher students performing no better, and often worse, than their public-school peers. Meanwhile, private schools receiving public funds are usually exempt from basic transparency requirements, standardized testing, accreditation standards and public oversight.

FFRF’s maxim is: Where public money goes, public accountability must follow. When public money goes to private schools, the public loses the right to know how that money is being spent. That lack of accountability has led to documented fraud, school closures and students left stranded mid-year.

Discrimination and segregation
Voucher-funded schools are allowed to discriminate against students and staff based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability — practices that would be illegal in public schools. These programs also exacerbate segregation, allowing schools to pick and choose students while draining resources from neighborhood public schools that must serve all children.

A coordinated political push
The recent expansion of voucher programs has been driven by well-funded political groups and religious lobbying organizations, not by grassroots demand. Wealthy donors and national advocacy groups have poured millions into state legislatures to pressure lawmakers into dismantling public education systems under the misleading banner of “choice.”

“Calling these programs ‘educational freedom’ or ‘school choice’ doesn’t change the reality,” notes Barker. “They are an ideological effort to privatize education and inject religion into taxpayer-funded schooling.”

FFRF urges lawmakers to invest in public schools
FFRF calls on policymakers to reject voucher expansion and instead invest in strengthening our public schools — the bedrock of our democracy and which are open to all students, accountable to taxpayers and committed to educating, not indoctrinating.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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