Since Betsy DeVos became the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, she has continued to push for a federally funded private school voucher program. These programs currently exist in 29 states and provide state support—through direct payments or tax credits—for students to attend private schools. (see text box) Voucher supporters such as Secretary DeVos describe vouchers as providing parents with freedom of choice in education. However, some states have historically used private school voucher programs as a means to avoid racially integrating schools, as occurred during the 1950s and 1960s.1 More recently, evidence has shown that these programs are not effective at improving educational achievement.2 Recent evaluations of certain voucher programs have shown no improvement in achievement or a decline in achievement for students who use them. For example, a Center for American Progress analysis found that the overall effect of the D.C. voucher program on students’ math achievement is equivalent to missing 68 days of school.3 Voucher programs are also not a viable solution in many rural areas of the country because these programs can strain funding resources in communities that already have lower densities of students and schools.4 Public funding should be used to ensure that all students have access to a quality public education, but voucher programs divert funding away from public schools. There have been a number of reports detailing how voucher programs provide public funding to schools that can legally remove or refuse to serve certain students altogether.5 This issue brief provides a comprehensive analysis of the various ways that voucher programs fail to provide the civil rights protections that students have in public schools.
In August 2018, a viral video showed a young child trying to enter a private school while a teacher repeatedly refused entrance to him and his father.6 In the video, the child looks on in pure confusion as a teacher explains that his loc’d hair violates the school’s dress code. The dress code allegedly required that boys have hair no longer than their chin. Clinton Stanley Sr. and his son, Clinton Stanley Jr., were not informed of this rule when they signed up to attend the school, and they were refused admission when they arrived.7Unfortunately, similar events happen in public and private schools across the country. However, in a public school, parents and children have more avenues of recourse when they feel that they are experiencing discrimination, including filing complaints with the school district or the state’s education agency. While public school systems must accept and educate all students, private schools—even those that accept public support through vouchers or other state or federal programming—may refuse to serve certain students, with limited options for parents advocate for their children.8
In this issue brief, the authors outline various ways that discrimination can occur in private schools that accept public support through private school voucher programs.