Perhaps the most contentious topic in public education today is the use of public money in private and parochial schools, usually through a voucher, tax credit or tax deduction. For some, these options threaten the very existence of the public education system. For others, these options provide greater educational opportunities for students and, by introducing competition into the public education system, have the potential to improve its performance.

So far, such options have been implemented in just a handful of states and only on a limited basis. For example, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico have adopted either a tax credit and/or a tax deduction policy, and Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin have adopted a publicly funded voucher policy. In addition, Maine and Vermont have longstanding variants of a publicly funded voucher policy.

An interesting wrinkle in the evolving public policy debate about vouchers, tax credits and tax deductions is the implementation of privately funded voucher programs. There are several private organizations that provide scholarships for students to attend private and parochial schools, notably the Children's Educational Opportunity (CEO) America Foundation and the Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF).

With the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June 2002 that the six-year-old publicly funded voucher program in Cleveland, Ohio, does not violate the separation of church and state principle, the constitutionality of publicly funded vouchers at the federal level has been solidified. State contitutions vary widely in how they address the flow of public dollars to private and parochial schools, though, and the constitutionality of publicly funded vouchers at the state level remains an open question in many places.

Furthermore, there is little information available about the effects of tax credits and tax deductions. A number of different studies, however, have examined the effects of vouchers. Although it is difficult to make any definitive statements about the effects of vouchers, these studies have shed some light on who is participating in voucher programs and how satisfied these participants are with the programs. Critical issues concerning vouchers remain unresolved, including their impact on student performance and their effect on school quality.

© 2010 Education Commission of the States
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