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Vouchers lose when voters get a say, yet they keep spreading. That’s not a mystery; it’s a business plan. For 30+ years, a small circle of billionaires has funded think tanks, lobbyists, and candidates to paint public schools as “failing,” push charters as the exit ramp, and now turbocharge vouchers through a new federal tax credit that moves public dollars into private control with few guardrails.

The federal voucher tax credit program allows Scholarship Granting Organizations to redirect taxpayer dollars to private and religious schools with limited state oversight. Here is how the program works, who controls the funds, and why accountability concerns matter for public education.

The federal school voucher tax credit scheme forgives up to $1,700 in taxes owed by an individual taxpayer in exchange for a donation in the same amount to a Scholarship Granting Organization that provides scholarships to private and religious schools.  There is no other nonprofit organization seeking donations that taxpayers can contribute to and see 100% of their contribution totally bankrolled by the federal government. The normal tax benefit for contributions is an incom

Last month, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became the first Democratic governor to opt into President Donald Trump’s federal tax credit school voucher program. In doing so, he joins 26 of the 27 Republican governors who made the same decision.

Governor Polis has opted Colorado into a federal tax credit program that functions as a school voucher scheme. Learn how it diverts public dollars to private schools and why transparency and public input matter.

A federal voucher program is now federal law. It creates a nationwide system of dollar-for-dollar tax credits that redirect public resources to private and religious schools. Governors must decide whether to opt their states in, placing major education funding decisions outside the hands of voters.