Last year, an attempt to introduce vouchers to Idaho failed. But, while Idahoans want to see more investment in our public schools, our legislators are at it again.
We’ve already seen what happens when school vouchers are introduced in other states like Iowa and Arizona.
In Iowa, an analysis indicates that the voucher system implemented would likely lead to losses of $7,600 per student—felt mainly by low-income and rural students.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission reports that 55% of applicants make more than $150,000 a year. That’s much higher than Oklahoma’s median income.
Arizona, though, currently takes the prize for the out-of-control costs of school vouchers. Initially, the program was supposed to cost right around $65 million. But now there are estimates that Arizona will have spent $780 million on school vouchers by the end of this fiscal year.
Plus, those who receive vouchers are generally already enjoying “choice” in their schooling. In Florida, for example, 69% of applicants to the recently expanded program were already in private schools. Basically, those who can already afford private schools are getting a bonus—while money is siphoned away from public schools.
And, through all this, there’s no proof that vouchers actually improve educational outcomes.
I’m sure that our legislators will make empty promises about caps and special incentives for low-income families. They might even claim that they will offer some oversight on how voucher money can be spent.
But we’ve already seen how our so-called representatives behave when we ask them to invest in communities rather than their well-off cronies. They pay lip service to education, but when the legislation is written, and the consequences come out, we often see results opposite to what our elected officials claimed they were trying to do.
These are people who happily take PPP money and other federal subsidies while actively rejecting federal funding for early childhood education. Our legislators are the epitome of “federal funding for me, personally, but not for thee or the community.”
The governor announced in his State of the State address that he wants to prioritize funds for our crumbling facilities. One of the issues is that Idaho is one of very few states that requires a 66.67% majority for passing school bonds. As a result, including here in Idaho Falls, our students often end up in unsafe environments. Maybe legislators should tackle the fact that a “no” vote for school funding counts more than a “yes” vote.
If our legislators wanted to provide the uniform public education required by our state constitution, they would work on solutions that, well, outright fund education. They wouldn’t be gearing up for basically the same voucher fight they abandoned last year after it proved unpopular.
We see how vouchers play out in other states. They’re expensive. They disproportionately harm low-income and rural students. School choice doesn’t matter if there aren’t alternatives in the rural area. We already know how this goes. And it does nothing to address our teacher shortage, crumbling schools or improve educational outcomes.
Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.