Thousands of Private Schools Take Public Money, Operate With Little Scrutiny — ProPublica

In this recent expansion, private schools have opened in farms and barns, addiction treatment centers, co-working spaces, people’s homes and parks, ProPublica’s review of 13 states found. A West Virginia family opened a school at the family fun center they operate. It’s next to the waterpark, mini golf course and go-kart track… 

One Michigan-based company that launched last year to encourage churches to tap into public funds refers to these programs in its promotional videos as “God’s new gold mine.”… 

 It’s common, for example, for both new and established religious schools to refuse to admit (or to expel) students who say they’re gay, who condone homosexuality or whose parents are gay. One school noted on its website that it is “permitted to discriminate on the basis of religion in accordance with our Statement of Faith.” Many schools decline to enroll students with disabilities. An Alabama school that opened this past fall says it will expel students who have HIV, gonorrhea or syphilis... 

…[A reporter] had recognized the name of a woman who’d just opened her own private school in the fall of 2025: Tara Salute… A 40-year-old vice president of the local Little League at the time, Salute in 2012 had been charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor after a drunken night at her home with her son’s friend, a sophomore in the district where she recently had taught elementary school. After intercourse, the teenager had snapped photos of her naked body on a futon as evidence…

 https://www.propublica.org/article/private-schools-vouchers-growth-florida-arizona-west-virginia

Arkansas Knew This Private School Harmed Students but Kept Sending Funds — ProPublica

Private School Abuse: At an Arkansas school, a boy was hit by the school’s founder and attacked by classmates in a group session the founder led, prompting a complaint and her arrest. 

State Money Still Flows: Despite a jail term for the school’s founder, The Delta Institute for the Developing Brain continues to operate and Arkansas still sends it public funds. 

Unregulated and Growing: By design, private schools get little oversight in Arkansas even as new opportunities to receive state money have spurred a boom in openings since 2023...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/arkansas-private-schools-vouchers-delta-institute-developing-brain-autism-harm

 

Water polo player at elite LA school sues after years of alleged harassment

An 18-year-old Black water polo player filed a lawsuit against one of Los Angeles's most elite private schools last week, alleging he was sexually assaulted and racially harassed by teammates for years while school staff failed to intervene...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/water-polo-abuse-california-school

 

Ohio requires buses for private school kids. Public school students have to find their own ride | Ohio | The Guardian

A shortage of drivers and buses combined with the threat of fines, means that public school districts in Dayton and around Ohio find themselves relegating their own students to the back of the transportation line.

 "I'm going to have to use Uber, and it's going to cost me $25-$30 a day to get to and from school," says Castillo. "In wintertime, when demand is higher, it's probably going to be more." At 180 school days over the course of a year, that's thousands of dollars he is set to fork out from his own pocket...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/11/ohio-private-charter-school-buses 

 

James Talarico grills author of private school voucher bill in committee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPnyfA5Iico

 

Tax dollars paid for this failing Mormon school in Arizona!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUht_u8NIhs

What an Unregulated School Voucher Program Looks Like — ProPublica

 For instance, the state never informed parents who were new to Title of Liberty and were planning to spend their voucher money there that it had previously been a charter school called ARCHES Academy — which had had its charter revoked last school year due to severe financial issues. Nor that, as a charter, it had a record of dismal academic performance, with just 13% of its students proficient in English and 0% in math in 2023…

Yet just a month after the board's decision, ARCHES was re-creating itself as a renamed, newly religious private school, simply by pivoting to accept voucher dollars. In other words, it was closed down by a public governing body but found a way to keep existing and being funded by the public anyway, just without the standards and accountability that would normally come with taxpayer money… 

…Still, she said, it's "on you" to check the credentials and the criminal history of every private school founder and provider to whom you're considering paying your ESA dollars, because in Arizona, "anybody can start a private school, you have no idea." There are mostly "just rumors to rely on," she said. … 

"You're putting your kid in [a school], hoping it's going to work," Cross said. "If it closes midyear, you're kind of screwed."…

https://www.propublica.org/article/arizona-private-school-vouchers-no-transparency

 

James Talarico Debunks Greg Abbott’s Private School Voucher Slogans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUh9dpajb5s

Stop Private School Vouchers – Public Funds For Public Schools - Americans United

Pro-voucher legislators in many states (backed by billionaires like Betsy DeVos) are racing to pass private school voucher bills. Private school vouchers threaten public education and religious freedom by forcing taxpayers to fund religious education. They also lack accountability, fund discrimination, and don’t even improve student achievement. These are a few of the many reasons why we must fight all private school voucher programs — and we need your help to do it!

https://www.au.org/get-involved/actions/endschoolvouchers/#

Oklahoma’s attorney general is suing to block a taxpayer-funded Catholic charter school

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwQDRyfShL0

The Culture War Is Alive And Well In This Pennsylvania School District | HuffPost Latest News

"The board members are not interested in a democracy," Nazemi said. "What they want are either one of two things: public schools with Christian values, or public schools that fail so badly that we can then use our tax dollars to pay for private school."

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pennsylvania-culture-wars-books_n_63612d97e4b039b01e1f8fc5

The Supreme Court’s church-state blind spot undermines religious freedom | The Hill

…In other words, while Catholic parents may appreciate a proposal that helps them pay to send their children to schools that teach Catechism, and Jewish parents may appreciate a proposal that helps them pay to send their children to Jewish religious schools, they should think twice when their tax dollars are also used to fund a school which preaches religious doctrine completely contrary to and perhaps hostile to what they believe…

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3576522-the-supreme-courts-church-state-blind-spot-undermines-religious-freedom/

Miami anti-vax school: Centner Academy says students who get covid vaccine must stay home for 30 days - The Washington Post

…The email from Centner Academy leadership, first reported by WSVN, repeated misleading and false claims that vaccinated people could pass on so-called harmful effects of the shot and have a "potential impact" on unvaccinated students and staff...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/18/centner-academy-students-vaccine-miami/

Trump attack on 'government schools' undermines pillar of US democracy

Trump and DeVos are peddling a dangerous vision of private education and individual freedom that undermines a fundamental pillar of our democracy. ....
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/02/14/donald-trump-education-freedom-school-choice-vouchers-column/4738012002/

What the Supreme Court missed about Wednesday’s religious-schools case - The Washington Post

Espinoza v. Montana is the latest salvo in the Right's effort to fund white flight to parochial schools.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/01/23/what-supreme-court-missed-about-wednesdays-religious-discrimination-case/

FFRF condemns DeVos’ attacks on public education | Freethought Today

FFRF denounces the Trump administration’s recent multipronged attack on the separation of state and church in public education. The proposed new federal budget contains $5 billion in tax credits for private school education. And Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has nixed a stipulation that forbids federal money from being funneled to religious groups via private schools. ....
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/vol-36-no-03-april-2019/ffrf-condemns-devos-attacks-on-public-education

Montana Supreme Court strikes down tax credit that aids religious schools - KPAX.com

The Montana Supreme Court Wednesday struck down a state tax credit for donations that fund scholarships for students at private schools, calling it a form of unconstitutional aid to religiously affiliated schools.....
https://kpax.com/news/montana-news/2018/12/12/montana-supreme-court-strikes-down-tax-credit-that-aids-religious-schools/

NY private school canceled Joel Doerfler's Palestine class after big donors held meeting with AJC - Mondoweiss

After history teachers Joel Doerfler and Shawn Redden condemned the Gaza slaughter this spring, they were soon both gone from the Riverdale Country School. A HuffPo investigation documents that school officials deferred to a small group of Zionist donors, who held a meeting with the pro-Israel group the American Jewish Committee and smeared the teachers as anti-Semitic. ....
https://mondoweiss.net/2018/08/canceled-doerflers-palestine/

15 ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in NYC deny entry to city investigators, schools chief says - The Washington Post

New York City education officials were denied entry into half of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools under investigation over allegations of not providing state-mandated secular education, according to a letter the city schools chancellor sent to state authorities.....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/08/17/15-ultra-orthodox-jewish-schools-in-nyc-deny-entry-to-city-investigators-schools-chief-says/

Questioning real-world learning at ultra-Orthodox schools - Religion News Service

At the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools Pesach Eisen attended in Brooklyn, most of the day was spent studying religious texts with classes taught in Yiddish. One class at the end of the day was spent on secular subjects, including English and math, enough to be “able to go to the food stamps office and apply.”....

https://religionnews.com/2018/07/22/questioning-real-world-learning-at-ultra-orthodox-schools/