American Atheists has long opposed school privatization policies, including vouchers, which divert public dollars from public schools to private — and almost always religious — schools. We’re not alone: American voters have never, not once, not in any state voted to enact or expand a voucher program.
Despite their unpopularity, every state except North Dakota has adopted some kind of school privatization scheme even as a tremendous amount of data proves they’re expensive, ineffective, and rife with abuse.
Earlier this week, Iowa’s State Auditor found the New York-based company managing the state’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher program stands to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what was in the original contract. According to a new report, Department of Education officials had failed for several months to produce any documentation explaining the modification.
For example, a recent study from Brown and Princeton found Iowa’s private schools raised tuition rates more than 20% in the year since the state implemented an education savings account program. The researchers concluded it was “not meeting its intended goal of making private schools more accessible for lower-income Iowans.”
One of the problems with school privatization policies is that they cost so much whether they work or, more often, don’t. Iowa’s Legislative Services Agency estimated the program will cost a billion dollars over five years, which doesn’t include the additional dollars the Auditor just found heading to New York.
It bears repeating: Those are taxpayer dollars — about an eighth of the state’s entire budget — going to almost exclusively religious schools. It’s worth noting most of the recipients would have sent their children to religious schools without state aid as they did last year and as they certainly will again next year when there is no longer any income limit.
Arizona has had this kind of universal voucher system since 2022 (despite 65% of voters rejecting expansion in 2018). As a direct result, ProPublica reported this week the state is now facing a $1.4 billion budget shortfall after the cost of the program ballooned from an original estimate of less than $65 million to $429 million expected this year.
In order to pay for, again, mostly religious schools, the state slashed $333 million for water infrastructure projects and decided not to improve air conditioning in state prisons at a time when water is increasingly scarce and temperatures are getting dangerously high. Meanwhile, Arizona public school advocates estimate the voucher programs are siphoning $300 million from public schools every single year.
For the Paradise Valley public school district north of Phoenix, that meant closing three schools this year, two of which had a rare A rating. Only a few miles away, Dream City Christian School received $2 million. The megachurch-affiliated school is part of Turning Point USA’s effort to “[restore] God as the foundation of our education [at a time when] exposure to all of the secular, really godless ideologies is on the rise.”
Even as — or perhaps precisely because — Arizona’s public schools are the worst-funded in the nation, ranking last or next to last in per-student spending and teacher salary, the state is considered “the model” for school privatizers nationwide.
A spokesperson for former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who signed the universal voucher program into law, told ProPublica, “he considers it one of his finest achievements… and what he’s most thrilled about is that Arizona’s [voucher] expansion was followed by 11 other states doing essentially the same thing. Arizona helped set off an earthquake.”
But when the rubble is our public education system, which serves nine out of ten kids in our country, we’re talking about an unconscionable number of casualties — and not just the students, families, and communities who rely on their local school, but our democracy.
This is an uphill battle. Wealthy proponents have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby for these policies and against politicians who oppose them. But it is possible. Last year, Illinois became the first state to roll back an existing voucher program. In November, Nebraska voters will have a chance to repeal a neovoucher law.
If you’ve read this far, I already know you care about saving our public schools. And by giving $25 or more today, you’re letting me know you want to see us do even more about this. And I hear you: With your support, I know American Atheists can be one of the nation’s leading voices opposing the use of public dollars for private schools and stopping the Christianization of our public schools.
In solidarity,
Nick Fish
President
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507 and our Combined Federal Campaign number is 52217.
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