Quietly lurking behind the curtain of the Trump administration’s higher-profile plans to dismantle public education in the United States is a far-reaching and deceptively named piece of proposed legislation: the Educational Choice for Children Act.
The Act does not get the same attention as the idea of closing the U.S. Department of Education or banning discussion of topics related to race and gender. But it is central to the plan from far-right Republicans and President Donald Trump to destroy public education as we know it. It is a massive, $10 billion per year program that, its proponents claim, expands “school choice” by providing education vouchers in the form of scholarships to religious and other private schools, and for homeschooling.
The Choice for Children Act would be the first national private school voucher program, establishing vouchers in every state. It is a significantly more expansive cousin to the discredited and recently terminated Illinois Invest in Kids program.
The Act uses generous tax credits — dollar-for-dollar reductions in taxes owed — to incentivize donors. As such, it is both an ideological effort to privatize education and a major tax giveaway for wealthy individuals. Under the proposal, donors would be able to receive tax credits of up to 10% of their adjusted gross income. For example, donors with an income of $10 million would be able to reduce their tax bills by as much as $1 million each year by making donations under the Act. Corporations would be eligible for a similar tax reduction of up to 5% of their taxable income.
The funds would be available for Illinois families with annual incomes of up to $216,000 — three times the state’s average family income. Similar state programs have shown time and again that these scholarships end up mostly going to families with children already attending private or religious schools, making a mockery of the claim the Act is intended to expand school choice for students whose families can’t afford it.
Little accountability, blurred lines between church and state — for lower taxes
Furthermore, in an almost guaranteed prescription for abuse and scandal, the proposed legislation explicitly prohibits nearly all accountability measures related to how voucher funds are spent. Schools and families will be able to spend the vouchers on just about anything they want simply by claiming the expenses have some connection to education. Additionally, it would be prohibited under the Act for federal, state, or local government entities to consider questions such as “Does the school discriminate on the basis of religion or race?” or “Does it exclude students with disabilities or other special needs?” or even “Are the voucher-supported programs effective?”
Perhaps more significantly, the Act tramples over one of the most fundamental principles of American government: the separation of church and state. Under the Act, taxpayer funds can be used to support religious education. Members of “minority faiths”— and those who have chosen no religion — are most vulnerable to attack when the wall of separation between church and state is breached. Currently, the danger is evident in the many attempts to embed “Christian values” and prayer into all avenues of public life, including schools.
Parents already have the choice of where their children are educated. Generous donors who want to support scholarships for non-public schools can do that today, and they even can receive a federal, charitable tax deduction if their donations are made to eligible institutions. And, if the donors want, those donations can target students whose families may not be able to afford the private or religious school tuition.
The Act has been proposed not as an educational bill but as a change to the tax code. As such, there are persistent rumors the Trump administration and the Republican Congress intend to sneak it into a large, budget reconciliation bill that requires only a simple majority for passage. And there is lots of concern that at least some Democratic congressional representatives will quietly allow that to happen without a whimper of resistance.
Public schools educate 90% of American children. The Act undermines those schools in every community: Republican and Democratic, urban, suburban and rural. Voucher programs have been rejected every time they have appeared on the ballot — 17 times, including in Kentucky, Nebraska and Colorado last year. Those who believe in public schools, in the separation of church and state, in accountability in how our tax dollars are spent, and who believe wealthy individuals and corporations do not need additional, generous tax write-offs should contact their senators and representatives, urging them to oppose the Educational Choice for Children Act in any size, shape and form.
Martin Gartzman is a senior associate and former executive director at UChicago STEM Education at the University of Chicago. He previously served as assistant vice chancellor and executive director of high school development at the University of Illinois Chicago.
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