Who Benefits From School Vouchers?

School vouchers were sold by supporters as a way for students from low-income families to escape under-performing schools. Pro-voucher groups like the Devos-funded American Federation for Children have called school choice the civil rights issue of our time. But investigations continue to show that voucher programs actually serve a different group.

Craig Harris reported on an investigation by the 12News I-Team looking at the results of Arizona’s universal voucher program. 12News found that the billion-dollar taxpayer-funded voucher program, which supported students who had never been in public school, and which hurt high-performing public and charter schools.

Arizona’s taxpayer-funded school voucher program was made universal in 2022, meaning that the vouchers were then available to all students with no restrictions or requirements. In that year, the state department of education said that 75% of new voucher applicants had never attended a public school.

12News also found that rather than escaping failing schools, thousands of students were leaving some of the highest-rated districts in the state, leading to funding losses for those schools. Four of the top five losing districts (Deer Valley, Chandler, Peoria and Scottsdale) are A-rated schools. The fifth, Mesa, is B-rated.

Vouchers are also costing charter schools students and dollars. For example, 12News found that the highly-rated Basis Peoria charter school campus has lost more than 400 students.

Other states report similar findings.

Read the full post here.