Vouchers Fail Even When Republicans Win

It’s an American political curiosity that even when Republicans win, core parts of their agenda do not.

Consider abortion. Republicans have been running on banning abortion since the 1970s, and it has remained an effective tool to elect conservatives for half a century. When President-elect Donald Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in his first term, constitutionally protected reproductive freedom was repealed and half the country immediately banned abortion at various stages of gestation.

That was in 2022. In just two years, a majority of residents in red states Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio have all voted to protect abortion to varying degrees even while re-electing the man most responsible for endangering it.

School vouchers has a similar history. Trump has been a vocal supporter of using public funds to pay for tuition at private schools, almost all of which are run by conservative Christians. His appointment of Betsy DeVos, chairwoman of the radical pro-voucher group Alliance for School Choice, to be his first Secretary of Education jumpstarted a national movement to push for vouchers across the nation, including Texas.

And yet, results have been mixed even in places where Republicans hold a trifecta of power. In Texas, rural Republicans have consistently sided with Democrats to reject school vouchers because of the danger they present to public school funding. The local high school is often the largest employer of some rural districts as well as a social hub for the community. Even with Abbott going to bloody intraparty war to remove the Republicans who thwarted his last voucher attempt, passage is still an open question.

Texas isn’t alone. In this past election, two ruby red states also rejected school ballots. Nebraska went for Trump by 20 percentage points, but voters resoundingly rejected a voucher program. Kentucky went even harder for Trump at 21 percentage points, and against vouchers by 21 percent points, a 42 point swing.

A likely reason is that vouchers are universally opposed by public school teachers, which remains one of the most trusted professions in the United States. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has repeatedly claimed that vouchers actually increase public school funding, but his own Texas Education Agency (TEA) has admitted that vouchers will almost certainly cost public schools money.

This is especially a big problem in Texas. Public schools in the state are struggling financially, with even wealthy districts like Cypress-Fairbanks cutting bus routes to save money. A promised increase to funding from a tax surplus has failed to materialize as Abbott holds the money hostage until he gets his way on vouchers. He has promised no new funding to schools until his voucher program passes, which will likely be the priority come January.

It remains a mystery why voters continue to elect politicians only to reject the proposals those politicians ran on, but when it comes to hot button issues like abortion and vouchers, the trend is fairly clear and consistent.