In 2024, Public Funds Public Schools, a national campaign directed by Education Law Center (ELC), continued to help lead the fight against private school vouchers across the country through litigation, policy advocacy, research, communications, and strategic partnerships.

PFPS was also honored to have the assistance of ELC’s Visiting Senior Fellow and voucher expert, Dr. Josh Cowen, to help expand the support the campaign can provide to local, state, and national advocacy partners this year.

As we approach 2025, PFPS is preparing for the challenges that lie ahead, including a presidential administration committed to dismantling public education, the threat of federal private school voucher legislation, and an even greater push by state legislatures to expand voucher programs to all students.

We’re ready to fight back with every tool at our disposal, but we need your support. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Education Law Center to support PFPS.

Below are some highlights of PFPS’s work from 2024 and what to watch for in 2025.

Litigation

In a major victory for public school students in South Carolina, the State Supreme Court struck down the private school voucher program enacted by the Legislature in 2023. ELC and co-counsel represented the plaintiffs in Eidson v. South Carolina Department of Education.

ELC and co-counsel also continued to represent the plaintiffs in McEwen v. Lee, a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s 2019 education savings account voucher law. In early 2024, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit was allowed to move forward.

Additionally, PFPS led numerous allies in filing amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs in Crosspoint Church v. Makin and St. Dominic Academy v. Makin, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold Maine’s law protecting LGBTQ+ and other students in schools receiving public funds, and in a case presenting similar issues in the Second Circuit, Mid-Vermont Christian School v. Saunders.

Visit PFPS’s Litigation page for more information about lawsuits challenging private school voucher programs.

Research

PFPS launched an interactive research tool that provides information on public and private school student enrollments in the states and nationally. The tool provides current and trending data on the sizes, geographical locations (city, suburb, rural), and compositions (race, income) of public and private school student populations in each state, as well as the percentage of students attending religious schools and racially segregated schools.

Visit the PFPS Research page for an extensive catalogue of research about the negative effects of vouchers on academic outcomes, civil rights, school integration, public school funding, and more.

Policy Advocacy

ELC and our PFPS campaign released a policy brief urging New Jersey lawmakers to reject legislation that would establish the state’s first private school voucher program. The brief explains the dangerous consequences of the legislation and emphasizes that vouchers are unconstitutional and unpopular with voters.

PFPS, in collaboration with state partners, also released two advocacy tools highlighting why Idaho lawmakers should reject private school voucher proposals:

• A research report co-authored by the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy explains how voucher costs can quickly balloon, how vouchers harm rural communities, and that voucher programs can lead to tax increases to make up for shortfalls in state funding to public schools.
• A fact sheet co-authored by the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities warns that establishing a private school voucher program in Idaho would publicly fund discrimination.

New Jersey and Idaho rejected all voucher legislation in 2024. Both states remain voucher-free.

PFPS monitored and analyzed several hundred voucher bills that were introduced in state legislatures and the U.S. Congress during the 2024 legislative sessions. Use our bill tracking tool to conduct searches by state, year, voucher type, eligibility criteria, and more.

In 2025, look for additional PFPS fact sheets and policy briefs, and be sure to frequently check the PFPS bill tracker for information and analysis on voucher proposals in your state.

Communications

PFPS launched The Private Eye, a newsletter series by ELC’s Visiting Senior Fellow Josh Cowen, where he discusses his thoughts on voucher schemes and other right-wing politics.

The PFPS interview series continued showcasing the work of public education advocates across the country. The latest installment discusses the strategies and resources used to defeat vouchers in Georgia during the 2023 legislative session.

PFPS also continued to host webinars on issues related to private school vouchers and the campaign’s goal of keeping public funds in public schools:

• Advocates from Mississippi, New Jersey, Idaho, Texas, and Tennessee joined PFPS for a discussion about anti-voucher victories in 2024, offering insights, strategies, and tips for others working against school privatization in their states.
• Authors Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider discussed their new book, The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual, with Jasmine Bolton of the Partnership for the Future of Learning.
• Josh Cowen engaged in a conversation with Maria Bautista of the NYU Metro Center about his new book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, which offers a deep-dive investigation of education privatization.

PFPS also co-sponsored the first webinar in ELC’s three-part series on the future of public education during Trump 2.0: What Do We Do Now? No Vouchers! Public Funds Are For Public Schools!

Links to all webinars and interviews are posted on the Advocacy page of the PFPS website.

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Visit the PFPS website regularly to access continually updated information on voucher-related litigation, legislation, advocacy, and research. Follow us on Facebook, BlueSky, X, and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the work of PFPS in the new year. Make a donation to PFPS here.