State legislators in the United States insist that they use more dollars of taxpayers to pay for private school training and home training costs, even when trying to figure out how to budget in a time of economic uncertainty.
The $ 1 billion voucher program for a year has sent the governor last week and a long boost to the congress to expand vouchers on a national scale, including countries that have rejected them, focus attention on the issue.
In countries that already have private education programs for most students, expenses have quickly increased more than their budgets as revenue growth has slowed or stopped. In addition to Texas, Tennessee accepted a program this year, and North Dakota paid serious attention to one before the veto last week probably ended its prospects this year.
Countries are required to produce annual cost plans that do not exceed what they pay. With the pandemic federal money from the pandemic era, which is gradual, opponents of vouchers fear that the programs will come at the expense of other priorities, including public schools.
“Even if they are funded by separate sources of revenue, it can be felt as school selection programs and public schools compete for the same part of a smaller pie,” said Paige Forrest, who analyzes state finances in the PEW nominal cerebral Trust.
Scholarships and Savings Accounts have quickly increased
Until five years ago, the boldest school selection programs were limited to students with lower incomes and special needs. Most recently, the state scholarships and the funded savings accounts are open to most or all families are caught, especially in the countries -controlled countries.
This approach costs much more, at least in the short term. This is partly because effort studies in several states have found that most of the first students to enroll already attend private schools and do not receive subsidies for taxpayers at all before the start of selection programs.
In the next school year, voucher programs are expected to cost Florida taxpayers nearly $ 3.9 billion, or about $ 1 every $ 1 $ 13 of the State Revenue Fund. In Arizona, this is nearly 5% of the total budget.
The analysis of the Associated Press found that the costs in Iowa, Ohio and Oklahoma are over 3% of the total expenses for the state this year or are intended to be in the next budget year.
Costs are a smaller part of the budget in countries where scholarship programs are still increasing. These include Arkansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Scholarships are caught in more countries
The flow of money from the campaign by voucher supporters is a key factor in persuading a previously sustainable Republican legislators to support plans for school selection, especially since defenders call for more school opportunities coming out of Kovid’s pandemic.
The programs were approved last year in Alabama and Louisiana, and this year in Tennessee, where the Republican governor Bill Lee said the $ 447 million program would be available for the upcoming school year.
New Hampshire, which raises income limitations of an existing program, goes through the legislature.
In Texas on Thursday, MPs sent the governor a bill that will have more than $ 10,000 a year for students in accredited private schools. The price will be limited to $ 1 billion in the 2026-27 school year, which is just over 1% of the annual state general funding. But by 2030 it has established a legislative analysis, it can cost $ 4.5 billion a year. This can be partially offset by just over $ 800 million in savings because there will be less students in public schools to subsidize.
The Texas House also approved nearly $ 8 billion in a boost to the public education system, which advocates say they do not cover additional costs due to inflation.
In the energy -dependent North Dakota, GOP governor Kelly Armstrong has vetoed a savings billing program, saying that he will not expand the options for all students and have problems with implementation. Since then, he said the concept remains a priority for him.
Erin Oban, organizer of North Dakotans for public schools, said the costs and unknowns of the state’s financial prospects program make a bad time to launch a voucher program.
“I think it would be a very long -term challenge to fund something in the short term that you think it can be a good idea or that we can somehow afford at the moment,” she said.
Congress Republicans seek to expand an assortment of tax reduction adopted in President Donald Trump’s first term, plus new tax reductions, advice and social security benefits. Proponents of the school selection loan will face solid competition when it comes to involvement in this mix.
Vouchers attract more rage when traditional funding is lagging behind
In Ohio, according to the budget proposed by the home Republicans, the vouchers will see a greater increase in funding from public schools starting in July 2026. The plan, which was adopted this month, also requires a way to take back some money from the ownership tax that has already been collected from the school districts.
Democratic State Representative Bull Rose Souini said there was no problem with vouchers as long as public schools were fully funded. But she says the budget plan is not enough.
It will also continue to increase the amount of scholarships for private schools, including for the first time to make some of them accessible to institutions that work without any state supervision.
“Ninety percent of Ohio’s children are still in public schools,” Souini said. “They are increasing even more in vouchers, while they still do not give public schools what they need – even though the bigger part of the money comes from there.”
Rachel Brady, a mother of four in Wake Forest, North Carolina, was a leader in the successful impetus last year for legislators to finance fully scholarships after one of her children and thousands were placed on a waiting list after the initial distribution was exhausted.
Legislators should look to reduce costs elsewhere if they need to continue the programs, she said.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein – like Katie Hobbs of Arizona, another democratic governor – suggest a scales of scholarships. But there is no indication that legislative acts controlled by GOP will pump the brakes in any condition.
The budget, advanced this month from the North Carolina House, includes funding for scholarships and an less increase for teachers in public schools than Stein suggested.
“This is a big investment in the future of our children,” Brady said. “This gives them what they need to be successful in life. I cannot come up with a better way to invest in the future of our country.”
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Associated Press Writers Colin Binkley, Jack Dura, Kevin Frashing and Nadia Latan contributed.