Organized opposition to federal school vouchers in “the big beautiful bill” was so effective it nearly derailed the program altogether, an education advocate said after the U.S. Senate’s 51-50 passage of the legislation July 1.
Sasha Pudelski
“Thousands of Americans took action and let their members of Congress know they did not want to have a national private school voucher program imposed on them by Congress,” said Sasha Pudelski, director of advocacy with the School Superintendents Association and co-chair of the National Coalition for Public Education.
The closeness of the overall Senate vote and the 50-50 tally that defeated an amendment that would have eliminated the voucher program from the bill testifies to the effectiveness of advocacy groups like Pastors for Children to mobilize their base for important causes, she said. “As a result of private and public efforts, we have significantly paired down legislation that still creates a private voucher program, which is tragic, but also provides some opportunities to regulate the private and religious schools that participate in the program.”
Senate changes to the Educational Choice for Children Act included allowing federal oversight of the program and reducing the amount donors can contribute to the system from 10% of annual income to $1,700 per year, according to The 74, a nonprofit education news organization.
The Senate version also removed the mandate that all states have a voucher program and does not require states to provide taxpayer funding for private schools or homeschooling, the School Superintendents Association said.
But it is still disappointing the bill made it out of the Senate and may be voted on soon by the House, Pudelski added. “Of course, we still oppose this and it will harm America, but compared to where we started, it’s a step in the right direction.”
Faith-based opposition to the vouchers act also was strong.
In May, 60 religious organizations including Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, Interfaith Alliance and Pastors for Children sent a letter to House members urging elimination of the voucher plan.
The plan “would create a national voucher program that would divert more than $20 billion of federal tax dollars to private schools and families who homeschool,” the letter warned. “We oppose this legislation because vouchers violate the foundational principle of religious freedom. This proposal will benefit the wealthy while harming our public schools, our students and our communities, and it will undermine our houses of worship.”
Many of the groups organized or participated in rallies at the U.S. Capitol or held webinars urging their supporters to contact legislators directly.
Charles Foster Johnson
“The ink on the Constitution wasn’t even dry when John Adams (second U.S. president) said let there be not one square mile without a school in it, not paid for by the charitable contribution of a wealthy person, but by the public at the public’s expense,” said Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Children, during a June 5 demonstration against the voucher plan.
BJC hosted a webinar later that month criticizing multiple provisions in the “big beautiful bill,” including vouchers and the billions of dollars they will divert from social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP food benefits.
Interfaith Alliance warned federal vouchers blur the line between church and state by involving the government in private education.
“We also cannot ignore the growing connection between school vouchers and the broader ideological agenda of the far-right,” the group warned. “School choice programs are often presented as a way to improve educational outcomes, but in practice, they are often part of a strategy to impose conservative religious values on the education system.”
“We are endlessly grateful for all your work to make this such a close vote,” Pudelski said in an email to Johnson. “It’s not over until its over and there are such significant differences between the House and Senate version we will remain engaged with offices in the interim and continue to do everything we can to get this out of the” the spending bill.
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