House GOP advances legislation on school vouchers
Proposal would allocate 45 billion per year
By: Kayia Jimenez
USA today
..... President Donald Trump's longstanding vision to expand school choice by pumping private and religious schools with federal dollars is one step closer to becoming a reality.
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House Republicans signaled that they back the president's private school voucher agenda when the House committee on Ways and Means approved a GOP-led budget proposal on May 14 [2025] that would allow the federal government to spend $5 billion per year for four years on nonpublic schools.
..... "This is going to be able to deliver scholarships for the families who need it most, so that they can att4end private and parochial schools," said Representative Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, at the committee hearing. "This bill actually benefits middle-class families and working families like the ones I represent in Staten Island and Brooklyn."
..... Families who earn under three times their local median income and who receives the federal scholarships crated by the program could choose to spend the estimated $5,000 they receive on tuition or other schooling needs at private schools, parochial schools or homeschooling. the average private school in New York state costs $21,903 per year, according to the website Private School Review.
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House Republicans have proposed that the program would be funded through tax credits For every dollar an American donates to a nonprofit that grants scholarships, the federal government will reduce the person's taxable income by a dollar. the donation limit is capped at $5,000 or 10% of a person's taxable income.
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Trump directed the Department of Education and multiple federal agencies to prioritize school choice programs shortly after he entered office.
..... The president's support and the federal funding proposal add to the momentum for school choice in the Unites States particularly in GOP-led states.
..... Families in Texas can now sue public funds to pay for a nonpublic education after Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a $1 billion school voucher bill into law. The program there allows for government spending of public funds on private schools, including religious schools and homeschooling.
..... At least 35 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico already have some school choose programs without federal dollars to back them, according to a national school choice dashboard from EdChoice, a national nonprofit group advocates for school choice legislation.
..... Supporters for school choice largely argue that parents should have a right to choose where their kids attend school regardless of the cost and be supported with tax dollars, arguing that local public schools are often academically inferior to private or parochial schools.
..... School voucher program opponents often say the programs benefit wealthy families already enrolled in private schools, and who already can afford them. they also argue that school choice programs strip crucial state funding from public schools that are required to take every student, while not everyone lives near private schools or can be accepted into them.