Vouchers and Education: What Do History and the Research Tell Us?

Policy proposals to use public funds for private school tuition have a long history in the United States. Over the last twenty-five years, small voucher programs have been established in several states and in Washington, D.C. But the voucher issue took on a new importance after the election of Donald Trump, given his campaign promise to establish a $20 billion national voucher program. Since her appointment as Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has been an active partisan of national vouchers.

As Congress considers the Trump-DeVos proposals for a national voucher program, what can we learn from the history of vouchers and from the research on the performance of voucher systems? From a variety of perspectives, our panel addressed this question.

Panelists:

Martin Carnoy, Vida Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford Graduate School of Education

Leo Casey, Executive Director, Albert Shanker Institute

John Jackson, President and CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education

Ning Rui, Senior Study Director, Westat.