Advancement Project and 139 groups Oppose National Private School Voucher Program

June 2, 2025

Washington DC —  Today, Advancement Project and 139 other national, state, and grassroots racial justice, education justice, and other civil rights organizations urged Congress to oppose and reject any effort to authorize or create a national private school voucher program, including proposals in the House-passed reconciliation bill and other standalone voucher bills introduced in either chamber.  Advancement Project was joined by a diverse array of advocacy organizations including grassroots racial and education justice groups; national and legacy civil rights groups representing Black, Latine and Asian communities; women’s rights and gender justice advocates; national and local teachers’ and service employee unions; education research and advocacy organizations; parent groups; faith-based and secular organizations, including nonprofits that advocate for the separation of church and state; and pro-public school advocates.

In a new letter sent to Congress, Advancement Project and the organizations wrote:

“Contrary to what school privatization advocates say, a national private school voucher program would not provide ‘choice’ for working- or middle-class families. Nor would it offer benefits to almost any children in Black, Latine, Indigenous, or rural communities. Instead, a national private school voucher program would give the wealthy a multi-billion-dollar handout and fund private schools that exclude countless children. It would decimate the public schools that already struggle with budget shortfalls and leave most students and families worse off.

Creating private school voucher programs often come at the cost of cutting programs that benefit communities across the U.S.—but particularly low-to-middle-income and working-class Black and other families of color. In the current budget reconciliation process, Congress is considering cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and Pell grants—undercutting public resources that serve students and communities across the country while simultaneously proposing to divert billions in public funding to private schools. Thus, the creation of a national private school voucher program could chart a path to the horrifying prospect of returning to the pre-civil rights era landscape of racialized extremes of school funding and other public benefits. Rather than committing billions of dollars for tax breaks for wealthy individuals, we urge Congress to invest in working-class Black communities and other communities of color and fund under-resourced public schools instead.”

You can read the full letter here.

###

Advancement Project is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive, and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change. We are a co-convener of the National Campaign for Police Free schools, a formation of 20+ youth-led grassroots organizations fighting to end the criminalization of youth in the classroom, create liberatory educational spaces, and implement an affirmative vision of safety and transformative justice. Visit www.advancementproject.org to learn more.