Kentucky Supreme Court CRUSHES charter school scheme to drain public education funding

When it comes to education, Kentucky’s constitution makes clear that the state must support and fund public schools. Republicans want that money to go to charter schools, a move that would steal money from real public education. That's why the Kentucky Supreme Court just unanimously rejected that proposal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zdksFUq654

 

FFRF Action Fund | TAKE ACTION: Tell YOUR governor to REJECT the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program!

Public education funding is under attack!

A federal voucher program, known as the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC), was passed in Congress's "One Big Beautiful Bill," and governors around the country are already taking action on it. With an estimated potential total cost of over $50 billion, your state's public education system could be in immediate danger if your governor opts into this program. We need your help to fight to keep secular, high-quality public education safe today!

By opting into the program, third-party organizations (known as Scholarship Granting Organizations, or SGOs) would be allowed to grant scholarships to students using federally reimbursed donor funds. The vast majority of permissible funding purposes — tuition, fees, books, room and board and uniforms — only apply to students of private, often religious, institutions. Even worse comes the academic cost. Studies of voucher programs in three different states found that students attending private schools using vouchers performed worse academically than their public school counterparts. Additionally, 66 percent of private schools are religiously affiliated, and 77 percent of students enrolled in private schools attend one with a religious bent. In other words, by opting into the FSTC program, taxpayer dollars will be used to fund religious indoctrination while leaving the public school system — which educates 91 percent of children in America — with far less support.

Contrary to the claims of the program's backers, FSTC participation comes with immense costs, and public students deserve better than to be an afterthought to private religious schools. Please take this opportunity to contact your governor and tell them not to jeopardize public education! We have included suggested language that we encourage you to customize by clicking on the pencil icon. After sending an email, you will be directed to a phone prompt to call your governor as well. Even leaving a message shows your dedication to the cause, so please take the extra step if you can! For best results, please be succinct and polite.

https://ffrf.quorum.us/campaign/155137/

Watch: How the Trump Administration Is Remaking Public Education — ProPublica

Education Secretary Linda McMahon is bringing about a new era in education — and perhaps the end of public schools as we know them...

 https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-linda-mcmahon-public-education 

 

This 'Chilling' Right-Wing Movement Is Taking Over Classrooms — And It's Only The Beginning. | HuffPost Life

The religious justification being used in these cases isn't general, it's specific. "The ruling essentially says religion is more important than your identity, and not just any religion, but specific types of religious interpretations," Pieklo explains...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/schools-religious-freedom-book-bans_l_68fbc537e4b011e80886474c 

 

 

Josh Cowen: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers | FFRF Convention 2024 - YouTube

Josh Cowen speaks out against school voucher programs, warning that they undermine public education and exacerbate inequality. He explains that vouchers were initially framed as "school choice" but have become a tool for advancing Christian nationalism and defunding public schools. Cowen argues that vouchers benefit private, often religious, schools at the expense of vulnerable students, and he advocates for investing in public education to ensure better outcomes for all students.

Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, is the author of the new book, "The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers." His popular writing on education politics, school choice and culture wars has appeared in daily newspapers, "The Hechinger Report," "The New Republic" and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIthoF-hlnM 

Evangelical education nearly ruined me. Now the Christian right is coming for public schools

Trump's secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has characterized the growth of US Christian schools as an "educational insurgency" collecting "recruits" to build an underground army "with the opportunity later on of taking offensive operations in an overt way", Hegseth said in a podcast appearance... 

"If you gave my students on the west side of San Antonio an $8,000 or $10,000 voucher, there's still no way they can afford a $20,000 a year private school," Talarico says. "But because the voucher program is universal, the wealthy family that is sending their kid to that private school will now get an $8,000 or $10,000 discount on their tuition, at the expense of the working-class kids on the west side."  

Talarico adds that the voucher program includes funding for home-school students, up to 90% of whom are Christian and whose curriculum is often poorly regulated. "So we taxpayers will be funding homeschool programs that teach students the earth is flat," he says...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/12/christianity-schools-republicans

Idaho law hands parents more power in choosing school curriculums. It’s led to major changes

"[The] people choosing the curriculum ... [are] going to be people with a political agenda who don't believe in public education…"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/14/idaho-parents-teachers-curriculum-selection

An exposé has revealed the GOP's disturbing endgame for education - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

The end goal of all this is no secret: Defund and decimate public schools so much that the only remaining forms of education are private schools (or privately managed charters), where the price of learning basic literacy is a truckload of religious indoctrination and falsified American history. The leaders of the movement aren't coy about this. Christopher Rufo, who was the front man for instigating national panics over "critical race theory" and "grooming" in public schools, often gives speeches crowing about how much damage he's doing to the public education system...

https://www.rawstory.com/an-expose-has-revealed-the-gop-s-disturbing-endgame-for-education/

Extremists Are Lying to Undermine America’s Public Schools | Time

…As Rufo made clear, the assaults on public schools in state after state are part of a nationally orchestrated and funded campaign. The goal is to destabilize public education and replace it with a universal, unregulated voucher system which would increase segregation and exacerbate already wide gaps between the rich and the rest of us…

https://time.com/6172216/public-schools-extremists/

WATCH LIVE: Warren rolls out plan for '$800 billion investment' in public schools

Sen. Elizabeth Warren outlined her education proposal while speaking at an Iowa school assembly on Oct. 21. "I have a plan that is a historic plan for an $800 billion investment in our public schools," Warren said at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. "Let's make every school in America a great school." Warren said her education plan seeks to improve access to education for students with disabilities and from low-income backgrounds. The plan would also stop federal funding for any new charter schools and provide tuition-free public college. Warren said she would fund the proposal with her wealth tax of 2 percent on households worth $50 million or more.
https://youtu.be/I5Ej3gEk-KA

Why the charter school movement is in trouble - The Washington Post

Charters were supposed to save public education. Why are Americans turning against them?....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2019/05/30/feature/charter-schools/

There is a movement to privatize public education in America. Here’s how far it is has gotten - The Washington Post: Analysis

A new report details what each state and Washington, D.C., are doing. Here are the findings. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/06/23/there-is-a-movement-to-privatize-public-education-in-america-heres-how-far-it-is-has-gotten/

Koch brothers turn their sights on destroying public education for private profit

Billionaire brother Charles Koch is not shy about the goal of the Koch network, which gets at least $100,000 a year from each of 700 very wealthy people: it’s to “change the trajectory of the country.” And right now, one of the Koch brothers’ key targets is public education.....
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/1/30/1737199/-Koch-brothers-turn-their-sights-on-destroying-public-education-for-private-profit

Don’t Fall For the School Choice Week Hype: Private School Vouchers Are Bad For Everyone | Americans United

Starting this week, proponents of private school voucher schemes will be touting National School Choice Week – but what they won’t be touting is all the ways that vouchers harm public education and religious freedom.....
https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/don-t-fall-for-the-school-choice-week-hype-private-school-vouchers-are-bad