Rapidly expanding school voucher programs pinch state budgets

By Kevin Hardy Stateline org In submitting her updated budget proposal in March Arizona Gov Katie Hobbs lamented the rising costs of the state s school vouchers operation that directs residents dollars to pay private school tuition Characterizing vouchers as an entitlement operation Hobbs disclosed the state could spend more than billion subsidizing private development in the upcoming fiscal year The Democratic governor reported those expenses could crowd out other budget priorities including disability programs and pay raises for firefighters and state troopers It s a dilemma that several budget experts fear will become more common nationwide as the costs of school choice measures mount across the states reaching billions of dollars each year School vouchers are increasingly eating up state budgets in a way that I don t think is sustainable long term disclosed Whitney Tucker director of state fiscal framework research at the Center on Budget and Guidelines Priorities a think tank that advocates for left-leaning tax policies Vouchers and scholarship programs which use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition are part of the wider school choice movement that also includes charter schools and other alternatives to constituents schools Opponents have long warned about vouchers draining guidance from population training as students move from community schools to private ones But research into several programs has shown several voucher recipients already were enrolled in private schools That means universal vouchers could drive up costs by creating two parallel guidance systems both funded by taxpayers In Arizona state agents released greater part private school students receiving vouchers in the first two years of the expanded activity were not previously enrolled in community schools In fiscal year more than half the state s voucher recipients were previously enrolled in private schools or were being homeschooled Vouchers don t shift costs they add costs Joshua Cowen a professor of teaching initiative at Michigan State University who studies the issue in recent times narrated Stateline Bulk voucher recipients were already in private schools meaning states are paying for instruction they previously didn t have to fund Voucher proponents though say those figures can be misleading Arizona like other states with latest expansions previously had more modest voucher programs So chosen kids who were already enrolled in private schools could have already been receiving state subsidies In addition to increasing competition supporters say the programs can literally save taxpayer dollars by delivering coaching at a lower overall cost than traditional residents schools One thing is certain With a record number of students receiving subsidies to attend private schools vouchers are speedily creating budget concerns for particular state leaders The rising costs of school choice measures come after years of deep cuts to income taxes in multiple states leaving them with less money to spend An end of pandemic-era aid and expected looming cuts to federal help also have created widespread uncertainty about state budgets We re seeing a number of things that are creating a sort of perfect storm from a fiscal perspective in the states mentioned Tucker of the Center on Budget and Initiative Priorities Last year Arizona leaders waded through an estimated billion budget shortfall Budget experts reported the voucher plan was responsible for hundreds of millions of that deficit A new universal voucher project in Texas is expected to cost billion over its next two-year budget cycle a figure that could balloon to nearly billion by according to a legislative fiscal note Earlier this year Wyoming Republican Gov Mark Gordon signed a bill expanding the state s voucher project But last week he acknowledged his own substantial concerns about the state s ability to fund vouchers and its populace guidance obligations under the constitution I think the legislature s got a very tall task to understand how they re going to be able to fund all of these things he noted in an interview with WyoFile Voucher proponents who have been developing at the state level for years are gaining new momentum with aid from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans In January Trump ordered federal agencies to allow states tribes and military families to access federal money for private K- teaching through learning savings accounts voucher programs or tax credits Last week Republicans on the House Strategies and Means Committee voted in favor of making billion available over the next four years for a federal school voucher campaign Part of broader work on a bill to extend Trump s tax cuts the measure would need a simple majority in the House and the Senate to pass Martin Lueken the director of the Fiscal Research and Development Center at EdChoice a nonprofit that advocates for school choice measures argues school choice measures can certainly deliver savings to taxpayers Lueken explained vouchers are not to blame for state budget woes He mentioned citizens school systems for years have increased spending faster than inflation And he noted that school choice measures make up a small share of overall state spending nationally about of total state expenditures in states with school choice he explained Constituents schooling remains one of the largest line items in state budgets he declared in an interview They are still the dominant provider of K- development and certainly looking at the tuition pie they still receive the lion s share It s not a choice dilemma I would say that it s a complication with the status quo and the inhabitants school system he revealed Related Articles China criticizes US ban on Harvard s international students These world leaders went to Harvard University before Trump s foreign apprentice ban Federal judge blocks Trump administration from barring foreign pupil enrollment at Harvard Bay Area school official apologizes for handling of antisemitism inquiry Mentor in South San Francisco arrested on charges of lewd acts with minors Washington D C and states offer certain school choice programs according to EdChoice That includes states with voucher programs so expansive that virtually all students can participate regardless of income But Lueken disclosed framing vouchers as a new entitlement effort is misleading That s because all students even the wealthiest have consistently been entitled to a inhabitants learning whether they ve chosen to attend free population schools or private ones that charge tuition At the end of the day the thing that matters majority above dollars are students and families he commented Research is clear that competition works Populace schools have responded in very positive means when they are faced with increased competitive pressure from choice programs Inhabitants school advocates say funding both private and residents schools is untenable In Wisconsin Republican lawmakers are considering a major voucher expansion that would alter the funding structure for vouchers potentially putting more strain on the state s general fund The state spent about million on its four voucher programs during the - school year according to the Wisconsin Association of School Business Representatives which represents employees in school district finance human materials and leadership The association warns proposed rule could exacerbate problems with the unaffordable parallel school systems in place now by shifting more private schooling costs from parents of those students to state taxpayers at large Such expansion could create the conditions for even greater funding challenges for Wisconsin s traditional masses schools and the state budget as a whole the association s research director wrote in a paper on the issue In Arizona Hobbs originally sought to eliminate the universal voucher undertaking a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled legislature She has since proposed shrinking the venture by placing income limits that would disqualify the state s wealthiest families That idea also faced Republican opposition Legislators are now pushing to enshrine access to vouchers in the state constitution Marisol Garcia president of the Arizona Schooling Association the state s -member teachers union noted that vouchers and residents mentoring funds are both sourced from the general fund So it almost instantly started to impact masses services she commented of the universal voucher campaign While the union says vouchers have led to cutbacks of critical information such as counselors in society schools Garcia revealed the sweeping initiative also affects the state s ability to fund other services like housing transportation and healthcare care Every budget cycle becomes where can we cut in order to essentially feed this out-of-control plan she explained Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy stateline org States Newsroom Visit 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