School Vouchers
School vouchers are education tax dollars that typically are diverted from public schools in order to help subsidize the tuition of private and religious school students. While a few states and cities have limited voucher programs, the only federally funded program is a pilot program in Washington, D.C.
Why is This Important to Your School District?
Congress has consistently under-funded federal education programs, such as Title I and special education, while placing new requirements and accountability standards on public schools nationwide. Limited federal education dollars should be invested in public schools not diverted to private and religious schools that face no similar public accountability requirements.
NSBA's Position: Oppose Private School Vouchers
Let your Senators and Representatives know that you oppose draining critical resources from the nation's public schools in order to fund private school vouchers. You can use these
talking points to help convey your message. For comprehensive information on vouchers, visit
NSBA's Voucher Strategy Center website.
Making a Difference: Another School Board Success Story Local school board members have often made their opposition to private school vouchers known to members of Congress. In this Congress, school boards have helped to prevent the permanent extension of "education savings accounts", which permit tax free earnings to subsidize private and religious school tuition, and helped stop a proposed increase in funding for the Washington, D.C. voucher program.
Visit our Legislative Action Center to find out what's happening in Congress now.
Resources
- Voucher Strategy Center

A dynamic clearinghouse of news, information and advocacy tools on vouchers and tuition tax credits.
- NSBA Issue Brief: Private School Vouchers
[PDF 134,543kb]
Find out why NSBA opposes private school vouchers.
- Letter to the Senate: March 11, 2010
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Re: Oppose the Lieberman D.C. Voucher Reauthorization Amendment to FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act
- Letter to the Senate: March 4, 2010
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Re: Oppose the Lieberman D.C. Voucher Reauthorization Amendment to H.R. 4213
- Letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: September 14, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding for D.C. school vouchers
- Letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees: August 12, 2009
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Re: Conferees should strike private school voucher study (Section 535) of the National Defense Authorizations Act for Fiscal Year 2010
- Letter to House of Representatives: July 15, 2009
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Re: Oppose Expanding the D.C. Voucher Pilot Program in H.R. 3170
- Letter to Senate Appropriations Committee: July 9, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding of the expired D.C. Voucher Pilot Program
- Letter to Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: July 8, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding of the expired D.C. Voucher Pilot Program
- Letter to House Appropriations Committee: July 7, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding of the expired D.C. Voucher Pilot Program
- Letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: June 24, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding of the expired D.C. voucher Pilot Program
- NCPE Coalition Letter to House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: June 24, 2009
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Re: Funding of the DC Voucher Pilot Program
- Letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: May 12, 2009
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Re: Oppose continued funding for D.C. school vouchers
- Letter to House Budget Committee: March 25, 2009
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Re: Oppose Jordan’s amendment to extend DC private school vouchers in FY 2010 budget resolution
- Letter to Senate Appropriations Committee: July 9, 2008
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Re: Oppose funding for school vouchers in D.C. Appropriations bill
- Letter to House Appropriations Committee: June 19, 2008
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Re: Oppose funding for school vouchers in D.C. appropriations bill
- Letter to House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government: June 11, 2008
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Re: Oppose funding for school vouchers in D.C. Appropriations bill
- National Coalition for Public Education Letter to Chairman Jose Serrano: April 29, 2008
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Re: D.C. School Voucher Program
- Letter to the House Subcommittee on Early Education, Elementary and Secondary Education: March 10, 2008
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NSBA's letter for the record on subcommittee hearing - "After School Programs: How the Bush Administration's Budget Impacts Children and Families"
- Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives: June 27, 2007
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NSBA's Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the Davis Amendment (#7) to H.R. 2829 to increase funding for DC school vouchers.
- Bush proposal revives private school vouchers (USA TODAY, 1-24-07)

President's budget calls for multiple voucher programs; proposals unlikely to find support in Congress.
- Scrap voucher plan, fully fund No Child law (USA TODAY, 8-22-06)

NSBA President Jane Gallucci's letter to the editor of USA TODAY in response to an op-ed by the Secretary of Education promoting a national voucher proposal.
- Scholarship idea is not a big opportunity for blacks (USA TODAY, 8-1-06)

Columnist DeWayne Wickham isn't buying the rhetoric behind a proposed national voucher program.