Editor’s note: This piece was first published by First Focus on January 6, 2025 and is cross-posted with permission. It was written by Lily Klam, First Focus’ Education Policy Director. First Focus is a member of the Coalition on Human Needs.

President Donald Trump has said that creating a universal school voucher program is one of his top education priorities. Despite the popularity of school vouchers among politicians in recent years, research shows vouchers do not increase academic achievement, mostly benefit students already attending private schools, and lack accountability. Vouchers defund public schools and provide financial assistance to small numbers of students at the expense of the 90% of children who attend public schools. Every time there has been a ballot measure, Republican, Democratic, and Independent voters have soundly rejected private school vouchers.

We expect H.R. 9462, the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2024 by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), a bill that would create a federal school voucher program and provide an opportunity for donors to avoid capital gains tax, to be reintroduced and pushed in 2025. This unusual legislation incentivizes donations to ‘scholarship granting organizations’ for private school vouchers by offering a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on the full donation amount.

The current operative version of the bill was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee. In the 119^th Congress, the bill could be passed through reconciliation, which expedites the process of certain budget legislation and overrides the Senate filibuster’s 60-vote requirement for passage.

The bill itself is costly: it will spend $5 billion a year in taxpayer funds, totaling $20 billion over a four-year period. However, the loss of revenue will be higher when considering the federal and state losses of capital gains tax. The bill provides an opportunity to avoid capital gains taxes by allowing donations of “marketable securities.” This would allow individuals to donate their appreciated corporate stocks and avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciation, while also receiving a federal tax credit for the full market value of the donation. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, this provision could lead to a “120 percent match or more for upper-income families” and disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans, while decreasing funding in state and federal budgets.

A major problem with voucher programs is that they can discriminate against students as they please, and this bill is no exception. Despite private schools being able to discriminate against different student groups, such as those with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students, the legislation offers no protections for students. Notably, the only mention of non-discrimination in the bill language is about ensuring religious private schools are eligible for the same benefits as secular private schools. The legislation offers two opportunities for discrimination against students:  the scholarship granting organizations, which also take a cut of the money, can discriminate against the students they choose to provide vouchers to, and the private schools can discriminate against the students they choose to accept into their schools. As voucher opponents say, it isn’t “school choice,” it’s the school’s choice.

This bill would also create a system for privileging certain charities over others. We already have a system for tax deductions to charitable organizations through section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code. This bill would prioritize donations to private schools over charities that address other issues, such as food banks, churches, and homelessness shelters. The benefit for donating to private schools would be 2-3 times more than other charitable organizations, according to the National Coalition for Public Education.

It is difficult to justify spending $20 billion to create a new federal system for private education when we have a public education system struggling with a lack of funds. This proposal further defunds public education at a troubling time for our nation’s schools. The drop in pandemic relief funding, combined with state tax cuts, inflation, and existing state voucher programs has caused schools across the country to consider mass layoffs, program cuts, and even school closures. The expiration of pandemic relief funding resulted in a real cut of 43.8% to education in President Biden’s FY 2025 budget proposal.

This proposal doesn’t establish accountability measures to prevent waste and fraud with government funds. Private school voucher programs have previously funded extravagant expenses, such as ski passes, golf equipment, and lessons on how to drive a luxury car.

It’s important that public funds remain in public schools, that students are not discriminated against in the schools they attend, and that private schools aren’t favored over other charities in our tax code. Evidence overwhelmingly supports the claim that private school vouchers are a failed policy. Instead of focusing on private school vouchers that benefit only small numbers of students, lawmakers must consider solutions that advance opportunity for the 90% of U.S. students who attend public schools. These solutions include supporting the equitable full funding of public schools, providing higher teacher pay, and guaranteeing free breakfast and lunch for all students. Instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, let’s invest in our children and improve our public schools.