Newly enacted national school voucher program undermines ‘both public schools and religious freedom’

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison might be rolling over in their graves.

Buried in the gargantuan “budget” bill signed into law July 4 is a new program that jeopardizes our national commitment to public education and betrays an essential part of America’s religious liberty tradition by providing federal funding for religious education.

The national school voucher program in the new law, disguised as a tax credit scheme, offers dollar-for-dollar tax credits in exchange for contributions to nonprofit entities that provide tuition scholarships to students who attend private schools, including religious schools. For the first time in our nation’s history, under this system, taxpayers will be subsidizing religious school tuition with federal tax dollars.

The Founders would not approve. Separating the functions of religion and government was a major contribution to the constitutional vision they pursued. Thomas Jefferson once wrote that “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves … is sinful and tyrannical.” James Madison’s “Memorial and Remonstrance” (1785) opposed a religious funding bill in Virginia with more than a dozen arguments explaining the dangers to religion when it’s entangled with the government.

The new program established in the budget act brushes aside those principled objections. BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler said it well in response to the bill’s passage:

By creating a national school voucher scheme, Congress has opened the door for taxpayer dollars to fund private religious education—undermining both public schools and religious freedom.

 

Families and faith communities—not the federal government—should guide religious formation.

How large is the federal commitment to private school tuition? Who knows! The cost to taxpayers is uncapped, leaving the size of the program virtually unlimited. Congressional estimates place the voucher program’s cost at $4 billion, according to The New York Times, which notes that opponents of the measure warn the bill could cost as much as $50+ billion.

The program was moderated from its initial form after the Senate Parliamentarian rejected it from the version passed by the House of Representatives. But Senate Republicans added a modified version back in before the Senate passed the bill July 1.

In the version that passed, individual tax credits are limited to $1,700 per year — the previous version allowed taxpayers a credit for donations up to 10% of their area’s median income, which would have offered wealthy donors a significant tax shelter.

Still, some last-minute changes made the program even worse. A protection barring government regulation of religious schools was removed, opening the door for precisely the type of oversight of religion that James Madison warned about.

The school voucher program only will be implemented in states that opt in. Although it will cost states nothing to participate, no state will be required to opt in – a critical distinction in light of the fact that school vouchers programs are extremely unpopular across the country, in both red and blue states.

Public education and religious freedom are too important to our democracy to be so critically undermined without full public debate and understanding. This program is potentially massive. It will drain our budget and public school resources in states that opt in. It makes a mockery of our Founders’ principled opposition to forcing taxpayer support of religion. And it was passed hidden inside an 800+-page bill, changed right before passage, and rushed through debate to meet an arbitrary deadline imposed by President Donald Trump. Our public schools, our democracy, and our freedom of religion all deserve better.

For more on the trouble with school vouchers, I highly recommend the two episodes of the Respecting Religion podcast devoted to that very topic. Hear BJC’s Amanda Tyler and Holly Hollman discuss the various dangers of these programs in episode 8 and episode 9 of Season 5, released in 2023.