School Vouchers Rejected Nationwide on Election Day

School vouchers and privatization were on the ballot in three states on Election Day, and voters overwhelmingly rejected vouchers in each instance.

Voters rejected separate proposals in Colorado and Kentucky aiming to add language supporting school privatization to their states’ constitutions, and voters in Nebraska voted to repeal a $10 million school voucher program passed by Nebraska’s legislators this year.

Tuesday’s losses continue a pattern of vouchers losing at the ballot box, as previous pro-voucher measures in Massachusetts and other states have also failed.

“We will continue to advocate for students and find strength in last night’s results in Nebraska, Colorado, and Kentucky that showed when public education was put directly before voters, they chose to support children and support strong public schools,” said WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen. “Voters rejected diverting public school funding to unaccountable and discriminatory private schools, just like they have done every time vouchers have been on the ballot.”

In September, the National Education Association highlighted research studies and a new book from a Michigan State University professor of education showing vouchers to be “catastrophic failures” that harm students where they are tried. The author, Josh Cowen, said, “Children are better off when we fund public schools. This is as clear as the evidence pointing to the failure of vouchers. It’s the right thing to do and it works.”