Comment from Humpherys, Jill

Hi, my name is Jill and I am a school board member. I am writing in opposition to the use of federal tax dollars for the new school voucher program established under Section 25F of the Internal Revenue Code. In Arizona, tax credit and ESA vouchers have decimated public education funding and are leading to devastating school closures, teacher layoffs, and more. The newly passed federal tax credit voucher is poised to do the same, diverting unlimited billions in taxpayer dollars to private schools each year without the transparency and accountability that public schools provide. Arizona’s voucher program is rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. Further, vouchers have fueled discrimination and segregation, enabling private schools accepting publicly-funded vouchers to exclude students with disabilities, English language learners, and more. Arizona’s voucher program has zero academic accountability, even though much of the research on vouchers has shown they limit or actively harm learning. Implementing the federal program with a similar lack of guardrails in the federal voucher program would open the floodgates to fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars, just like we have seen in Arizona. Public funds must be for public schools that serve all children. No regulations can fix the fundamental flaw in new Section 25F of the Internal Revenue Code, as added by Section 70411 of Public Law 119-21, 139 Stat. 72, namely that it will result in billions of dollars being diverted from the US Treasury and handed over to unaccountable private schools and scholarship organizations that do not answer to the public. Across the country, voters have rejected vouchers time and time again. The national voucher program could force vouchers into states that have rejected them, including Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kentucky, where voters overwhelmingly rejected vouchers in the last election. A 2024 exit poll by All4Ed found that 68% of voters preferred increasing federal funding for public schools over private school vouchers, including 58% of Republicans. Forcing through a federal voucher program that defunds public schools is a rejection of voters’ expressed will to support public education. As you consider regulations, it is vital that you allow states to oversee the entities distributing vouchers to stop the fraud, waste, abuse, discrimination, and destruction that plague Arizona’s voucher programs. In addition, you must ensure any provisions benefiting private schools should equally benefit public schools. Thank you for your consideration.