Voters Reject Vouchers, But Trump And Republican Congress Revive School Choice Agenda

Donald Trump’s return to the White House brings optimism to school choice advocates, despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting vouchers on state ballots.

In his first term, Trump struggled to pass federal school choice programs, even with the help of voucher advocates and former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. However, the Associated Press reported that now that the Senate is controlled by Republicans and with the House heading that way too, Trump and allies will have an easier time passing school choice measures.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and the frontrunner to chair the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, has supported school choice measures such as tax incentives for scholarship donations. In addition, the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he’ll focus the next Congress on “maximizing school choice for parents and holding woke university administrators accountable.” 

While Republicans, receiving money from pro-vouchers donors, have pushed for school choice as a top priority, the measure has never been approved when put to voters, according to ProPublica. Even in this election, school choice was overwhelmingly rejected in three states.

In Kentucky, a ballot initiative that would have allowed channeling public money towards private schooling was defeated roughly 65% to 35%. In Nebraska, nearly all counties voted to repeal an existing voucher program. And in Colorado, voters rejected an effort to add a “right to school choice” to the state constitution.

Despite this popular rejection of school vouchers, in nearly a dozen states, Republicans have used their majority in their Legislatures to enact or expand school choice measures.

In Texas, a coalition of Democrats and Rural Republicans blocked the measure from passing in the House. Rural Republicans argued that school vouchers would have defunded their public schools, hurting both children and employees at their districts. However, Gov. Greg Abbott actively campaigned to oust those Republicans who voted against vouchers and supported their primary challengers. 

Abbott said he now has the numbers to pass vouchers and has said the measure will be his top priority the next legislative session.