Take action to stop school vouchers in the budget reconciliation bill
On May 22, 2025, the House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of the budget reconciliation bill, President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that really is a big, bad betrayal of religious freedom in order to provide tax cuts for the wealthy.
What this means is that the budget is now in the hands of the Senate — and, more importantly, in our hands to make sure we are heard and that a national school voucher program — which is currently part of that bill — is stopped in its tracks.
If passed, this national school voucher program would divert funds toward private, mostly religious schools that serve a select few, forcing taxpayers to fund religious education with little accountability.
What’s at stake are our public schools (which serve 90% of America’s students), our religious freedom, and the integrity of a government that serves the common good—not just the wealthy few.
The good news? This bill is not law just yet, school vouchers are opposed by people across the political spectrum and are consistently voted down by the public.
Here are three ways to take action:
Step 1: Tell your Senators to reject the national school voucher program
Creating a national school voucher program would shift taxpayer dollars into private and religious schools through a massive $20 billion tax credit scheme. The budget bill creates this voucher program by creating a tax shelter for the wealthy, under the guise of donations to families likely already sending their kids to private schools. Meanwhile, the bill pays for this and other tax cuts for the wealthy by cutting programs providing public education, health care, nutrition, clean energy, and more.
Use our form to contact your senators directly. Tell them to keep public dollars in public schools and faith free from government entanglement.
Step 2: Engage your senators in person
As senators return to their home states in the coming weeks, we’re encouraging supporters to attend local town halls and share your perspective in person. Not sure how? Here are ways to find and prepare for your lawmakers’ events near you.
First, make sure you know the names of the two U.S. Senators who represent you.
How do I find out if my Senators are holding town halls?
They won’t always provide a list in one place. Here are some ways you can discover if they will be near you:
- Check the official government websites of your two Senators to see if they list upcoming events
- Call your Senators’ offices — either in D.C. or in your district — and ask if they are holding a town hall in your part of the state
- Sign up for your Senators’ email newsletters, which often send out information when they will be in their state
- Check your Senators’ social media accounts — X, Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook — to see if they have announced any upcoming events
- Check your local newspapers for any announcements about upocming events featuring your Senators
What do I do at a town hall?
Come prepared to talk about issues that matter to you, including the harm that a national school voucher proposal would do to you and your community. It’s particularly helpful when people of faith talk about the dangers of school vouchers to religious freedom for everyone. Scroll down for a section on this page with more information on the issues created by school voucher programs.
Step 3: Share your story
We’re creating a public video and audio collection to lift up the voices of those affected. If you’re a parent, student, person of faith, or general supporter of public schools, we want to hear from you.
Record a 30–60 second video or audio message about why these issues matter to you. Share your name, where you’re from, and why this budget proposal hits home.
What’s the problem with school vouhcers?
School voucher programs – sometimes called “school choice” programs – seek to divert taxpayer money from public schools (which serve all students) to private schools, including private religious schools. People have the right to send their children to private religious schools if they choose that education for their family, but having the government fund religious education undermines our country’s commitment to religious freedom for all. Taxpayers – who are people of many different faiths and people of no faith – should not have to fund religious indoctrination, which is often part of the education in private, religious schools.
It’s not the role of the government to develop students in matters of faith and religious practice, but it is, however, a primary function of the state to provide education for all its citizens. And, government funding of religious institutions can harm those institutions themselves.
In the United States, public education is compulsory, so public schools must take everyone. Private schools don’t have the same rules or oversight as a government-run or public school. They do not have to take all students, and they are often religious in nature, which means that taxpayer dollars are, in essence, funding religious instruction.
A “school voucher” can come in a number of vehicles, including a type of scholarship, a tuition tax credit, education savings account, or a portability plan. In this budget reconciliation bill, it’s referred to as a tax credit for contributions of individuals to schlarship granting organizations.
The first 16 words of the First Amendment say “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Having the government endorse or fund religion would seem to violate the prohibition on government establishment of religion. Many supporters of taxpayer funding for religious schools through vouchers do so as a way to get around that constitutional barrier of government funding of religious exercise.
Many people who want religious education want it for religious purposes, but some of those purposes are inconsistent with public school purposes of equality and the teaching of secular subjects. And, we expect the government to set requirements and certain expectations for education in public schools, but we do not expect the government to do that in religious institutions or with regard to religion. So if the government gets involved in funding of religious institutions, we can expect the government to have certain expectations and accountability standards that would necessarily change a religious institution.
The language of “school choice” is not new. It was used after Brown v. Board of Education to subsidize parents who wanted to remove their children from the desegregating schools, and the language was also repeated by libertarians, such as Milton Friedman, whose real end goal was privatizing education altogether. But, as voters have proved over and over again – including in the 2024 election – vouchers continue to be unpopular with the greater public, even as they continue to be proposed by lawmakers.
Why do town halls matter?
Melissa Rogers, former executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Obama and Biden administrations, joined the Respecting Religion podcast for a conversation on active citizenship, sharing ways people can have influence on our government leaders.
“When there is an opportunity to meet with a member of Congress, whether individually or in a group, it means a lot to show up. That matters,” she said. “Showing up at town halls gives an opportunity for elected people to see who is there, to have conversation, to see the numbers that are there. That can have an impact in understanding the depth and breadth of a concern.”
