State lawmakers in the US are asking them to use more taxpayer dollars to pay private school tuition and homeschooling fees. Economic uncertainty.
A billion dollar voucher program Texas Legislature The issue has been attracting attention as it sends the governor last week to promote longshots in Congress to expand its vouchers nationwide, including those that rejected them.
In states that already have programs that pay most students private education, expenses quickly increased their budgets as revenue growth slowed or stopped. Besides Texas, Tennessee I adopted the program this year North Dakota We seriously considered one before last week’s veto ended this year’s outlook.
The states need to develop an annual spending plan that doesn’t exceed what they bring. Federal money during the pandemic era has been phased out, and voucher opponents fear the program will come at the expense of other priorities, including public schools.
“Even if they were funded by separate revenue streams, it can feel like school selection programs and public schools are increasingly competing for the same slices of smaller pie,” said Page Forest, who analyzes the state’s finances at the non-partisan think tank Pew.
Scholarship and savings account costs increased quickly
Until five years ago, the boldest school selection programmes were limited to low-income and special needs students. These days, scholarships and state-funded savings accounts open to most or all families have caught up with them, especially in Republican-controlled states.
This approach is much more expensive, at least in the short term. That’s because research into efforts in several states found that most of the first students to register were already attending private schools and had not received any taxpayer grants before the start of the selection program.
For next academic year, the voucher program is expected to cost Florida taxpayers almost $3.9 billion, or about $1 for every $13 from the state’s General Revenue Fund. In Arizona, it’s almost 5% of the general budget.
An analysis by the Associated Press predicts that costs in Iowa, Ohio and Oklahoma are more than 3% of the state’s typical spending this year, or will be in the upcoming budget year.
Expenses are only a small portion of the state’s budget where scholarship programs are still growing. These include Arkansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Scholarships are catching up in more states
a Campaign money flood Supporters from vouchers are an important factor in persuading previously resisting Republican lawmakers to support their school choice plans, particularly as supporters seek more school options to emerge from the community pandemic.
The program was approved last year In Alabama And Louisiana and this year In TennesseeRepublican Gov. Bill Lee said the $447 million program will be available next year.
a New Hampshire Invoice hike restrictions on existing programs have passed legislative legislation.
Texas on Thursday sent legislators a bill to allocate more than $10,000 a year to students in certified private schools. The cost for 2026-27 was $1 billion, just over 1% of the state’s general funds per year. However, by 2030, legislative analysis could cost $4.5 billion a year. That could be offset by a savings of over $800 million, partially due to the low subsidies.
Texas House has also approved a nearly $8 billion boost to the public education system. This states that it does not cover the extra costs due to inflation.
In energy-dependent North Dakota, GOP Gov. Kelly Armstrong rejected the Education Savings Account Program, not expanding the options for all students, and said it had issues with implementation. He has since said that the concept remains a priority for him.
Public school North Dakotan organizer Erin Oban said the costs and unknowns of the state’s financial outlook program will be a bad time to launch the voucher program.
“I think it would be a very long-term challenge to fund something in the short term that you think is a good idea or we think we can buy right now,” she said.
Congressional Republicans are trying to extend the assortment of tax cuts handed over to the president Donald Trump’s In addition to the first semester, new tax cuts will be enacted for overtime, tips and social security benefits. Advocates of school choice credits face tough competition when it comes to being included in that mix.
If traditional funds are behind, vouchers will attract more anger
In Ohio, vouchers will likely see greater funding increases than public schools since July 2026, under the budget proposed by House Republicans. The plan, passed this month, calls for ways to recover property taxes already collected by school districts.
Democrat Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney said there is no problem with the voucher as long as the public schools are fully funded. But she says the budget plan isn’t reaching that.
They will also continue to increase the amount of scholarships available to private schools. This is the first time it is available to institutions operating without state supervision.
“90% of Ohio children are still in public schools,” Sweeney said. “They haven’t given public schools what they need yet, but they’re still more on the voucher, despite it being a place that comes from a large part of the money.”
Rachel Brady, a mother of four in Wake Forest, North Carolina, was the leader of a successful push last year with lawmakers fully funding the scholarship, and was on the waiting list after the initial allocation was exhausted.
Lawmakers should consider cutting costs elsewhere, she said, if necessary to continue the program.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, like Katie Hobbs, another Democratic governor of Arizona, suggests reducing the scholarship. However, there is no indication that a GOP-controlled council will pump the brakes in either state.
The budget advanced this month by the North Carolina House of Representatives this month includes scholarship funding and fewer pay increases for public school teachers than Stein proposed.
“This is a huge investment in our children’s future,” Brady said. “It gives them what they need to succeed in life. We can’t think of a better way to invest in the future of our state.”
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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley, Jack Dura, Kevin Freking and Nadia Lathan contributed.
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