5 Million Reasons Vouchers Won't Get the Job Done
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Texas public schools educate 5 million students. In terms of meeting that goal, school vouchers aren¡¯t a solution ¨C they¡¯re a distraction.
5 Million Reasons Vouchers Won't Get the Job Done
- 1. WHO EDUCATES 5 MILLION TEXAS STUDENTS? Texas public schools educate 5 million students. 91% In terms of meeting that goal, school vouchers aren¡¯t a solution ¨C PUBLIC they¡¯re a distraction. SCHOOLS Vouchers are for the few, not the many. School vouchers benefit a small handful of students Private Schools 6% while doing nothing for the majority of Texas students in our public schools. There simply Public Charters 3% aren¡¯t enough private schools to make a dent. While public schools educate 5 million Texas students, private schools in Texas only educate 313,360 according to the National Center PUBLIC SCHOOLS PRIVATE SCHOOLS PUBLIC CHARTERS for Education Statistics. 4,823,842 313,360 154,278 Vouchers do not improve student achievement. Study after study has concluded school vouchers do not result in improved TYPES OF SCHOOL VOUCHERS student achievement over traditional public schools. After reviewing the research, the Center for Education Policy concluded, ¡°studies have generally found no clear advantage in academic achievement for students attending private schools with vouchers.¡± School vouchers (AKA, Taxpayer Savings Grants, Opportunity Scholarships, School of Last Tax credit scholarships use state tax dollars to send students Resort vouchers): to private schools. Under these schemes, a corporation is Traditional school vouchers are payments or given a dollar-for-dollar credit against its state taxes (in addition reimbursements using state tax dollars that are given to the federal deduction it would receive already) for providing directly to parents as subsidies to pay tuition money to fund private school tuitions. at private schools. We call these Texas Two Step vouchers. The extra shuffle step ¡°Stealth¡± or ¡°Neo-Vouchers¡± (AKA, Tax Credit of the tax credit is designed to avoid the difficult legal and Scholarships, Education Tax Credits, Tuition Tax political issues of giving state funds directly to private schools. Credits or Tuition Affordability): The impact on state revenue is the same as if the Comptroller These school vouchers are disguised as philanthropy. had signed the check. They provide an individual or corporate tax credit ¨C usually a dollar-for-dollar credit against state taxes Choice Exists in Texas Public Schools: owed ¨C for contributions to either private schools, or to nonprofit organizations, to pay for tuitions at According to a survey conducted by Raise Your Hand private schools. Texas of 66 of the largest school districts in the state by enrollment, 321,196 students in these districts are Virtual Schools: Private, for-profit virtual education providers often try to already attending school on a campus or in a program get funds directly from the state, rather than through other than their neighborhood school ¨C roughly the same contracts with districts or charters. This is just another way number of students educated in the all of the private to funnel public funds to private entities. schools in Texas put together! TAKE ACTION Here¡¯s what the Texas legislature can do to keep public schools strong: Whether they call them Taxpayer Savings Grants, Tax Credit Scholarships, School of Last Resort vouchers or any other creative name ¨C OPPOSE SCHOOL VOUCHERS IN ANY FORM! LEGISLATIVE ADVERTISING PAID FOR BY: David Anthony, CEO, Raise Your Hand Texas VOUCHERS 3200 Southwest Freeway, Suite 2070 | Houston, TX 77027 P 713.993.7667 | F 713.993.7691 | www.RaiseYourHandTexas.org