and School Choice

tuition tax credits Tax reductions

offered to parents or guardians of children to offset part of their school tuition payments.

educational voucher A flat grant

or payment representing a child’s estimated school cost or portion of the cost. Under a typical voucher plan, the parent or child may choose any school, public or private, and the school is paid for accepting the child. Taxpayers, who want to keep the lid on school spending, want to hold schools and educators responsible for students’ academic achievement.41

In 2001, the newly passed NCLB brought the issue of accountability to the forefront of federal education policy. The act required statewide assessment programs in reading and mathematics for all children in grades 3 through 8. The purpose was to hold schools accountable for the performance of all students, especially underserved populations, on the assessments. If a school failed to meet AYP toward performance targets for a set number of years, sanctions were placed on the school. The focus of this accountability effort was referred to as a “test and punish” approach that had drastic implications for school funding at both the state and local district level.42

The Obama administration has implemented a number of adjustments to the accountability measures in its efforts to reauthorize the ESEA. The administration has been granting states waivers from certain accountability requirements related to student achievement. While there has been some easing of pressure in this area, the trade-off is that states receiving federal funds are being required to implement teacher and principal evaluations systems that incorporate measures of student growth. Teachers will be held accountable by measuring the value that a given teacher adds to the achievement of his or her students.43

8-4c tax credits, Educational vouchers, and School choice

Tuition tax credits allow parents to claim a state tax reduction for approved education expenses they pay to send their child to nonpublic school. The tax-credit movement reflects the public’s desire for increased choice in schools as well as the continuing quest of nonpublic schools for support. Since the 1950s, Minnesota has employed tax deductions for educational expenses; at least seven other states also use a type of tax credit for such expenses.44 An expanding version of the tuition tax credit is the scholarship tax credit program where corporations and individuals can donate a portion of the state taxes that are owed to private nonprofit school tuition organizations that award scholarships to K–12 students. The scholarship can be used for private schools or public schools outside of the student’s home district. Fourteen states currently have scholarship tax credit programs.45

Use of educational vouchers is another growing trend in school finance reform. Under a voucher system, the state or local school district gives parents of school-age children a tax-subsidized voucher or flat grant, representing a portion of their children’s educational cost. Children then use this voucher to attend a school of the family’s choosing.46 Thirteen states and the District of Columbia had voucher programs in

41Peter Hart and Robert M. Teeter, Equity and Adequacy: Americans Speak on Public School Funding (Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service, 2004) at www.ets.org/americans_speak/funding; and Teachers Matter: Understanding Teachers’ Impact on Student Achievement (Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 2012) at www.rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness /teachers-matter.html. 42Todd Ziebarth and Bryan Hassel, ECS Issue Brief—School Restructuring via the No Child Left Behind Act: Potential State Roles (Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, November 2005) at www.ecs.org/html/Document.asp?chouseid=6578; and Allie Bidwell, “Coalition Wants New School Accountability,” US News and World Report (October 28, 2014). 43Bidwell, “Coalition Wants New School Accountability”; and Marc S. Tucker, Fixing Our National Accountability System (Washington, DC: The National Center on Education and the Economy, 2014). 44Lawrence Hardy, “The Voucher Revival,” American School Board Journal (November 11, 2011), pp. 14–18; and Josh Cunningham, Comprehensive School Choice Policy: A Guide for Legislators (Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures, September 2013). 45”School Choice: Scholarship Tax Credits,” NCLS.org (2015) at www.ncsl.org/research /education/school-choice-scholarship-tax-credits.aspx. 46Bruce D. Baker, Preston Green, and Craig E. Richards, Financing Education Systems (New York: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008), pp. 318–321.

school choice A system that allows students or their parents to choose the schools they attend. 2013, and pro-voucher legislators in forty states had introduced bills to use state tax dollars to send students to nonpublic schools.47

Debates over tax credits and voucher programs have been vigorous and emotional. The NEA, the AFT, and other educational organizations contend that vouchers or tax credits offer no real choice to most students, split the public along socioeconomic lines, and reduce financial support for the public schools.48 Opponents have also argued that such programs do not raise student achievement for all, provide unconstitutional support for church-related schools, undermine the public-school system by supporting and encouraging the movement of students to nonpublic schools, and produce a large drain on public-school budgets or state treasuries. Critics also contend that tax dollars are ultimately going to private entities with little accountability and uncertain outcomes.49

Proponents of tuition tax credits and vouchers generally link the issue with the concept of school choice, which is discussed in detail in Chapter 16, School Effectiveness and Reform in the United States. By widening a parent’s choices for schooling, supporters contend we can increase competition among schools and raise the overall level of educational quality. The idea is to depend on education to follow the laws of the marketplace: If students and parents can choose schools, the effective schools will stay in operation, and the less desirable ones will either go out of business or improve.

In addition, supporters of tuition tax credits and voucher programs argue that such credits are not unconstitutional and do not seriously reduce federal revenues or hamper public-school tax levy efforts. They also argue that these programs provide wider opportunity for students to attend schools outside the inner city; thus, tax credits or vouchers do not contribute to, and might even reduce, racial and socioeconomic isolation. Many supporters also believe that tax credits or vouchers, besides providing parents with a choice in selecting schools, stimulate public-school improvement, particularly when families have choices within the public-school district.50

The call for school choice is most obvious with the growth of charter schools, discussed in Chapter 7, Governing and Administering Public Education. Minnesota was first to adopt a charter school law in 1991; by the 2012–2013 school year, there were 5,997 charter schools across forty-two states and the District of Columbia, which accounted for more than 6 percent of all US public schools. Most charter school organizers contend that they receive less public funding than noncharters. Many school boards counter that they are frugal in allocating operating funds for charter schools, fearing a financial drain on already tight budgets for existing public schools.51

47“School Vouchers: The Wrong Choice for Public Education,” Anti-Defamation League (2011) at

www.adl.org/assets/pdf/civil-rights/religiousfreedom/religfreeres/School

-Vouchers-docx.pdf; and “School Vouchers: Legal and Constitutional Issues” (webinar) (Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures, June 20, 2013) at www.ncsl.org /documents/educ/voucher-webinar.pdf. 48NEA, “Issues and Action – Vouchers” at www.nea.org/home/16378.htm (February 4, 2015); and AFT, “AFT Statement on Louisiana Supreme Court Decision on Vouchers” (May 7, 2013) at www.aft.org/press-release/aft-statement-louisiana-supreme-court-decision -vouchers (February 4, 2015). 49Lyndsey Layton, “GOP Measure Would Promote School ‘Choice’ with Federal Funding,” Washington Post (January 27, 2014); and NSBA, “Issue Brief – Private School Voucher” (January 17, 2015) at www.nsba.org/sites/default/files/012015_Vouchers_Issue_Brief.pdf (February 4, 2015). 50Greg Anrig, “An Idea Whose Time Has Gone,” Washington Monthly (April 2008), pp. 29–33; “Vouchers,” Education Week (August 11, 2011) at www.edweek.org/ew/issues/vouchers (February 5, 2015); Jeff Bryant, “The New Push for School Vouchers at State, Federal Levels,” Washington Post, (February 12, 2014); and “Commonly Asked Questions about School Choice and Vouchers,” Rethinking Schools Online (2015) at www.rethinkingschools.org/special _reports/voucher_report/vouchersorig/vq&a.shtml. 51Katrina E. Bulkley, “Charter Schools: Taking a Closer Look,” Kappa Delta Pi Record (March 1, 2011), pp. 110–115; and “Charter Schools: Overview,” NCSL.org (2014) at www.ncsl.org /research/education/charter-schools-overview.aspx (February 4, 2015).