What History Can Teach Us About Private School Vouchers

Neil Campbell and Abel McDaniels discuss the Trump administration's education proposals and the disturbing segregationist history of K-12 voucher programs.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have proposed cutting the Department of Education budget by more than 13 percent, or $9 billion, while allocating $250 million toward a federally funded voucher program. And while a nationwide K-12 voucher program would be a first-of-its-kind initiative, private school vouchers are nothing new.

In fact, the earliest K-12 voucher programs are rooted in our nation’s disturbing segregationist history, starting in 1959 when schools in the South began allocating vouchers for white students to avoid complying with desegregation orders. It is critical to acknowledge and understand the effects of that history when considering policies today.

The above excerpt was originally published in Inside Sources. Click here to view the full article.

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