Dear Governor Stein,

As a concerned parent living in North Carolina, I write today to share my deep concerns for the newly established national school voucher tax credit program and urge you to reject the federal government’s invitation to participate in the program.

I write today to share my deep concerns for the new national school voucher tax credit program established under One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in July 2025 and is scheduled to launch in 2027. Because of these concerns, which I have outlined below, I urge you to reject the federal government’s invitation to participate in the program.

First, as you know, the majority of children in our state attend public schools, and this new federal voucher program will divert desperately needed funding away from these schools. Many of these schools are already underfunded and under-resourced, and any funding loss would force cuts to programs and educational opportunities, resulting in decreased educational quality in our state. Not only would this be devastating for the public schools in our state and the families served by them, but it could force your administration to compensate for those losses through the state budget in order to maintain our state’s public education system. The reality is that our public schools need more, not less, investment to meet the diverse needs of students right now, and we encourage you to support measures that would ensure a high-quality education for all children across our state.

Second, although marketed as “choice” for parents, the national voucher program will not offer any genuine choice to families in our state.  Under the program, private schools would be allowed to reject students with disabilities—or any other students those schools wish to avoid, including based on a student’s academic ability, race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Families who do not sign appropriate “statements of faith” or who do not have family compositions that align with the schools’ preferences may also find their child rejected. Additionally in some communities, like rural areas, there would be no “choice” at all for parents when non-public options are hundreds of miles away. Moreover, the cost of attending private school almost always exceeds the voucher’s value, making the “choice” unaffordable and out of reach for many families in our state. In fact, research has shown that the families most likely to use a voucher are families who can already afford to send their kids to private schools: 70% of the students who have been receiving vouchers are those already attending private schools in states that already have voucher programs. 

Third, the reality is that even well-intentioned voucher programs have proven to be ineffective in improving students’ academic achievement. Repeated studies of voucher programs across the country have shown that the deployment of vouchers does not improve students’ academic achievement. In fact, opting into the program could actually result in worse test scores for our state. For example, studies of several long-standing voucher programs in the District of Columbia, Milwaukee, and Cleveland revealed that the students who received vouchers showed no improvements in reading or math over those not in the program. Studies of other voucher programs—across states like Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio—similarly revealed that the students who used vouchers were performing worse academically than their public-school peers. While our students right now are facing real academic challenges, opting into a costly and ineffective program is not going to be the best solution for our state’s families and schools.

Fourth, we are concerned that the new national voucher program lacks the necessary safeguards to ensure the credibility and accountability of the program to taxpayers. As you may be aware, the federal legislation establishing the program, unfortunately, did not include any meaningful measures to encourage oversight, transparency, or accountability that would ensure the program works effectively as intended and would operate without the mismanagement or abuse of taxpayer dollars. As one example, the legislation did not require schools who accept vouchers to adhere to any standards for school quality, like accreditation, or enforce any teacher qualifications. Additionally, the program does not require schools who accept vouchers to report on their academic performance, a key safeguard to ensure transparency for families in understanding how a school is performing. Because there are very few guardrails on how voucher money could be spent, we remain concerned that opting into the program will encourage waste, fraud, and abuse in the use of taxpayer funds.

Fifth, the program will deprive students and families in our state of essential rights and protections. Private schools receiving vouchers under the program would not be required to abide by federal laws that protect students and families. People across our state would be stripped of protections, including First Amendment, due process rights, civil rights, and other student protections and parents rights under the law. Students with disabilities and their families would be particularly underserved by the program, as schools receiving vouchers would not be required to abide by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Families in our state would be forced to relinquish their child’s rights under IDEA, including a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment resulting in a marked decline in educational quality for these students in our state. As mentioned earlier, these schools would also be allowed to deny students with disabilities of admission entirely, leaving these families without any genuine choice when seeking a quality education for their children in our state.

Finally, the national voucher program will be particularly damaging for rural schools. Rural communities often rely on their public school, not only for educating their children, but as a center for resources and programs for the entire community. Public schools are also frequently the largest employer in rural communities. Any decrease in funding for a rural school has a rippling impact, as every dollar counts. In fact, because the margins for operating a public school in rural communities are incredibly small, the departure of even a few students can have a magnified impact and leave a rural school with fewer resources to educate children and serve the community. Moreover, in rural communities, there are often no realistic private school options when non-public options are hundreds of miles away. If you opt into this program, rural communities, children, and families will be especially hard-hit.

It is for these reasons that we urge you to reject the federal government’s invitation to participate in the newly established national school voucher tax credit program. 

We recognize that changes must be made within the public school system to provide equitable and excellent educational opportunities for every child. However, vouchers, tax credits, deductions, and other such funding sources do not provide the means for bringing about improvements in our schools. We urge you to reject efforts that would undermine our public schools and the millions of families served by them. It is during this challenging time that our nation’s public education system must be strengthened, and public dollars must remain invested in public schools, for the benefit of all students and for the future of our nation.

Sincerely,

Your Name