PARTNER PERSPECTIVE

State Legislative Threats to Secular Public Education

Maggie Garrett
Vice President of Public Policy, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

We are in the midst of an unprecedented and coordinated attack on our nation’s public schools.

Bankrolled by billionaire donors like the Kochs, the Waltons, and the DeVoses, the anti-public school playbook is in full effect. Their three-prong plan first calls for sowing mistrust in public schools through manufactured controversies, such as those villainizing public school teachers, disparaging “critical race theory” (CRT), and attacking LGBTQ students, families, and educators. Step two: defund public education. And finally, replace public schools with a system of universal private school vouchers. This plan is fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars to pay lobbyists and fund the political campaigns for their hand-picked politicians.

Unfortunately, this plan is working.

In 2023, 282 private school voucher bills were introduced in 41 states. By October, seven states passed new voucher programs and ten expanded existing programs. To make matters worse, seven of these states (AR, FL, IA, IN, OH, OK, and UT) created universal voucher programs—meaning that each and every student in the state is eligible to get a voucher regardless of their economic status and even if they already attend a private school.

These hugely expensive voucher plans—Florida’s program alone is projected to cost $4 billion a year—primarily fund private religious schools, which teach and promote the faith of their religious denominations and houses of worship. And because voucher programs have no curriculum standards, these schools can teach creationism, inaccurate sex education, revisionist history, and debunked refutations of climate change. This violates the religious freedom of taxpayers, who are being forced to fund religious education. And it violates the religious freedom of students, parents, and teachers, who can face discrimination by voucher schools for being the “wrong” religion.

Vouchers are also funding widespread waste and fraud. The intentional lack of regulation and accountability in voucher programs has left them vulnerable to opportunists and grifters, who have stolen and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayer funds intended to educate our children. For example, Arizona’s Auditor General found that parents misused more than $700,000 in voucher funds on items such as beauty supplies and sports apparel. And in Florida, the Department of Education was able to substantiate allegations of fraud in 25 cases at schools that collectively received nearly $50 million.

Meanwhile, studies show that vouchers don’t even improve the educational achievement of students, and often they lead to a decrease in test scores.

The huge price tags on voucher programs are also draining desperately needed funds from our public schools, which are fundamental to a strong democracy. While not infallible, public education improves communities, reduces inequalities, and forges common experiences. Public schools are the only option that serves all children who come through their doors, including those at the margins, who are unable to go anywhere else. And public schools must remain neutral on the issue of religion, welcoming to students of all religions and none. Private schools, in contrast, can and often do reject students for many reasons including ability to pay, academic achievement, disability, and religion.

But we are not without hope. The public is with us. In fact, a March 2023 Reuters/Ipsos issues survey puts public support for private school vouchers that defund public schools at a mere 36%, and everytime vouchers have been on the ballot, the people have voted them down. Learning from this, grassroots activists in Nebraska are fighting back. They just collected enough signatures statewide to put their recently adopted voucher bill up for a vote. If they win, it will send a message across the nation that people oppose voucher programs.

At the same time, additional threats to our public schools are now emerging. There is a new movement to convert public charter schools into religious schools, despite the fact that they are public schools that are funded entirely by taxpayer dollars. If it succeeds, the taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill for charter schools that teach a religious curriculum, that require students to pray and attend chapel, and that can skirt non-discrimination protections for students and teachers.

This battle is coming to a head in Oklahoma, where the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the application of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School. The school’s own application admits it will “operate the school as a Catholic School” and serve as a “place of evangelization.” The school says it will abide only by nondiscrimination laws that “are not inconsistent” with its faith, reserving the right to discriminate against students with disabilities and LGBTQ students and parents.

Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General warned state officials that the program violates the U.S. Constitution, explaining in an op-ed published in EdWeek: “Forcing Oklahomans to fund religious teachings with their tax dollars is not religious freedom—it is state-sponsored religion, which violates the first clause of the First Amendment.” But the Board moved ahead anyway and were almost immediately sued by a legal team that includes Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The case is pending.

If we don’t stop Oklahoma from creating the nation’s first religious public charter school, they could soon appear in states around the country.

The time is now to take action in your community to support your public schools, oppose privatization, and support the First Amendment principle that taxpayer-funded schools are a welcoming place for people of all religions and nonreligious people. Public funds should fund public schools that are open to all.