Can the new federal voucher program help public schools? Democrats are torn

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Democrats and public school advocates have until the end of the year to make a tough decision: Whether to embrace a Republican program that might help some public-school families pay for things like tutoring and summer school – even if it will also pour taxpayer dollars into private schools.

民主党人和公立学校的倡导者必须在今年年底之前做出艰难的决定：是否接受共和党的计划，该计划可能会帮助一些公立学校家庭支付辅导和暑期学校等费用，即使这也会将纳税人的钱投入私立学校。

Colorado's Jared Polis was the first Democratic governor to opt in to the coming Federal Scholarship Tax Credit , a new program the Trump administration is calling "America's first nationwide school choice program."

科罗拉多州的贾里德·波利斯是第一位选择加入即将推出的联邦奖学金税收抵免的民主党州长，特朗普政府将这一新计划称为“美国第一个全国性择校计划”。

"An obvious decision," says Polis of his choice to embrace the policy that, with the help of a generous tax credit, could raise billions of dollars in taxpayer donations nationwide.

波利斯在谈到他选择接受这项政策时表示，“这是一个显而易见的决定”，该政策在慷慨的税收抵免的帮助下，可以在全国范围内筹集数十亿美元的纳税人捐款。

"Of course I want Colorado kids to be the beneficiaries of that," Polis tells NPR.

“我当然希望科罗拉多州的孩子成为受益者，”波利斯告诉美国国家公共广播电台。

"I think many other governors would like kids in their state to be the beneficiaries of that."

“我认为许多其他州长都希望他们州的孩子成为受益者。”

Many Republicans, yes.

许多共和党人，是的。

But his fellow Democrats aren't so sure.

但他的民主党同僚不太确定。

"That is never going to happen," Minnesota Gov.

明尼苏达州州长“这永远不会发生”。

Tim Walz said earlier this year when asked if he would be opting his state into the program for 2027.

今年早些时候，蒂姆·沃尔兹 (Tim Walz) 在被问及是否会选择将他的州加入 2027 年该计划时表示。

"We are not doing it."

“我们不这样做。”

In between Polis and Walz, between yes and no, 15 Democratic governors, as well as the mayor of Washington, D.C., remain undecided, according to a tracker by Ed Week .

据 Ed Week 追踪报道，在波利斯和沃尔兹之间，在是与否之间，15 名民主党州长以及华盛顿特区市长仍未做出决定。

And the clock is ticking.

时钟正在滴答作响。

To be able to participate next year, they have to opt in by Jan.

为了能够参加明年，他们必须在一月之前选择加入。

1.

1.

"This is really, really hard because the policy is designed to try to make these [political] wedges," says Jessica Levin, litigation director at Education Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy group that opposes private school vouchers.

“这真的非常非常困难，因为这项政策的目的就是试图制造这些[政治]楔子，”教育法律中心的诉讼主任杰西卡·莱文说，该中心是一个反对私立学校学券的非营利性法律倡导组织。

She says Democratic governors may feel they can't pass on this program "because they think, 'Oh, there is a benefit for public schools, and I'm going to get flack.'"

她说，民主党州长可能觉得他们无法通过这个计划，“因为他们认为，‘哦，这对公立学校有好处，但我会受到批评。’”

But Levin, along with many of her fellow public school advocates, sees the program as a kind of Trojan horse.

但莱文和她的许多公立学校倡导者同事将该计划视为一种特洛伊木马。

Billed as a boon to public schools, she says vouchers can lead some families to leave for private schools , which can then result in declines in public school funding.

她表示，代金券被宣传为公立学校的福音，但它可能会导致一些家庭转而去私立学校就读，从而导致公立学校资金减少。

Beginning in January, qualifying taxpayers will be able to donate up to $1,700 to a scholarship-granting organization, or SGO.

从 1 月开始，符合条件的纳税人将能够向奖学金授予组织 (SGO) 捐赠最多 1,700 美元。

The SGO will then convert those donations into scholarships, also known as vouchers, to help families cover a wide range of education costs, including private school tuition as well as tutoring, summer school and even new computers.

然后，SGO 将把这些捐款转化为奖学金（也称为代金券），以帮助家庭支付各种教育费用，包括私立学校学费以及辅导、暑期学校甚至新电脑。

The government's end of the bargain is that, in exchange for making a scholarship donation, these qualifying donors will get every penny back come tax season: For every dollar they contribute to one of these SGOs, they will owe the IRS a dollar less in federal income tax up to $1,700.

政府达成的协议是，作为奖学金捐赠的交换，这些合格的捐赠者将在纳税季节收回每一分钱：他们向这些 SGO 中的每一个捐赠一美元，他们将欠国税局一美元的联邦所得税，最高可达 1,700 美元。

Put another way, if you're thinking of donating, "It's not your money.

换句话说，如果你想捐款，“这不是你的钱。

It's money that you would have sent to the IRS," says Marguerite Roza of Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab.

你应该把这笔钱交给国税局。”乔治城大学教育经济学实验室的玛格丽特·罗扎 (Marguerite Roza) 说道。

More than 138 million people could qualify for the full tax credit, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

根据税收和经济政策研究所的数据，超过 1.38 亿人有资格获得全额税收抵免。

Plus, given the generosity of the credit, the U.S. Treasury Department predicts it could raise nearly $26 billion in scholarship donations by 2030.

此外，考虑到慷慨的信贷，美国财政部预计到 2030 年可筹集近 260 亿美元的奖学金捐款。

For comparison, the largest source of federal education funding, known as Title I, sent more than $18 billion to schools in 2023 to help them serve low-income students.

相比之下，最大的联邦教育资金来源（即 Title I）在 2023 年向学校捐赠了超过 180 亿美元，帮助他们为低收入学生提供服务。

Of the 31 states that have signed on to the new program, most are led by Republicans.

在签署新计划的 31 个州中，大多数由共和党领导。

Just one Democratic governor has willingly joined Polis: Gov.

只有一位民主党州长愿意加入城邦：州长。

Kathy Hochul of New York.

来自纽约的凯西·霍赫尔。

In Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina, top Democrats fought the program but were overridden by Republican legislatures.

在堪萨斯州、肯塔基州和北卡罗来纳州，民主党高层反对该计划，但被共和党立法机构否决。

If a governor does not opt in, that state's taxpayers can still make donations to SGOs and receive the tax credit, but families in that state won't qualify for scholarships or vouchers to pay for educational expenses.

如果州长不选择加入，该州的纳税人仍然可以向 SGO 捐款并获得税收抵免，但该州的家庭将没有资格获得奖学金或代金券来支付教育费用。

Governors who have opted in for 2027 can also choose to opt out for 2028 or vice versa.

选择在 2027 年加入的州长也可以选择在 2028 年退出，反之亦然。

Like many of the nation's Democratic governors, groups that have championed public education in Republican-led states now face a similarly uncomfortable choice:

与美国许多民主党州长一样，在共和党领导的州倡导公共教育的团体现在面临着同样令人不安的选择：

Continue to fight the scholarship program on principle or make a practical pivot, encouraging school districts and public school families to embrace the program so they can benefit from it.

继续原则上反对奖学金计划或采取实际行动，鼓励学区和公立学校家庭接受该计划，以便他们从中受益。

The Southern Education Foundation (SEF) – created in the aftermath of the Civil War to guarantee schooling to the children of formerly enslaved people – chose to pivot.

南方教育基金会 (SEF) 在内战结束后成立，旨在保证前奴隶儿童的入学机会，但选择了转型。

"The question for me became less about whether I agreed with every aspect of the program, because I don't, and more about what happens now that the program is moving forward," Raymond C.

“对我来说，问题不再是我是否同意该计划的各个方面，因为我不同意，而是更多关于该计划正在向前推进时会发生什么，”Raymond C.

Pierce, SEF's president and CEO, said in a press release .

SEF 总裁兼首席执行官皮尔斯在一份新闻稿中表示。

"We've always been an organization that has promoted public schools, and we oppose private school vouchers," says Fred Jones Jr., SEF's senior director of public policy and advocacy.

“我们一直是一个提倡公立学校的组织，我们反对私立学校的学券，”SEF 公共政策和宣传高级总监 Fred Jones Jr. 说。

Jones says foundation leaders fought "very hard" against the new program but decided to change their approach after most of the states where they operate opted in.

琼斯表示，基金会领导人“非常强烈”地反对这项新计划，但在他们开展业务的大多数州选择加入后，他们决定改变他们的做法。

The group is now launching an alliance of SGOs to focus specifically on raising funds for public school students.

该组织目前正在发起一个 SGO 联盟，专门致力于为公立学校学生筹集资金。

"If we have tutoring, if we have afterschool programming, if we get summer learning…

“如果我们有辅导，如果我们有课外编程，如果我们进行暑期学习......

I think a number of students in the public school system could be tremendously better off," Jones says.

我认为公立学校系统中的许多学生可能会过得更好，”琼斯说。

Deborah Gist felt the same way.

黛博拉·吉斯特也有同样的感觉。

" I am making sure that public school students benefit," she says.

“我确保公立学校的学生受益，”她说。

The former superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, one of Oklahoma's largest districts, Gist recently founded Future School Fund, a national SGO focused on serving public school students.

吉斯特是俄克拉荷马州最大学区之一塔尔萨公立学校的前校长，他最近创立了未来学校基金，这是一个专注于为公立学校学生服务的国家 SGO。

"I pulled up the bill language itself and saw right there that public schools were very explicitly included," Gist says.

“我调出法案本身，发现公立学校非常明确地包含在内，”吉斯特说。

"So I immediately started wearing my public school educator hat.

“所以我立即开始戴上我的公立学校教育工作者的帽子。

I immediately started thinking about all the kinds of things that we could fund."

我立即开始考虑我们可以资助的各种事情。”

Even with help from organizations like SEF and Future School Fund, public schools in states that have opted-in will have a lot of catching-up to do.

即使有海基会和未来学校基金等组织的帮助，选择加入的州的公立学校仍需要做很多工作来迎头赶上。

Many states already have state-level tax credits focused on helping families pay for private school, and very few of the SGOs that are already up and running are public school-oriented.

许多州已经制定了州级税收抵免，重点帮助家庭支付私立学校的费用，而已经成立并运行的 SGO 很少是面向公立学校的。

In other words, Jessica Levin explains, private schools already have the SGOs, the infrastructure and the advertising budgets.

杰西卡·莱文解释说，换句话说，私立学校已经拥有 SGO、基础设施和广告预算。

That's one reason Levin, along with many other public school advocates, continues to push back against the tax credit.

这是莱文与许多其他公立学校倡导者一起继续反对税收抵免的原因之一。

She predicts, "The vast majority of the money is going to be used on private school tuition and other private education expenses."

她预测，“绝大多数资金将用于私立学校的学费和其他私立教育费用。”

To get the money, public schools will need to start charging fees

为了获得这笔钱，公立学校需要开始收费

Marguerite Roza says public schools hoping to benefit from the tax credit will now need to decide which of the services they provide might legally be reimbursed.

玛格丽特·罗扎表示，希望从税收抵免中受益的公立学校现在需要决定他们提供的哪些服务可以合法地得到报销。

"You can't charge a fee for math class," Roza says, or for much of what public schools do.

罗扎说：“数学课不能收费，公立学校的大部分课程也不能收费。”

At its most basic, the program allows families to use donations to pay for education services that they'd normally have to cover out of pocket.

最基本的是，该计划允许家庭使用捐款来支付通常需要自掏腰包的教育服务费用。

That's a challenge for public schools, since they are required to provide education free-of-charge — they can't start charging for traditional services just so they can receive donation dollars through the new tax credit.

这对公立学校来说是一个挑战，因为它们被要求提供免费教育——它们不能仅仅为了通过新的税收抵免获得捐款而开始对传统服务收费。

Private schools, on the other hand, can legally charge tuition, and the Republican program can easily be used to reimburse families for that cost.

另一方面，私立学校可以合法收取学费，而共和党的计划可以很容易地用于偿还家庭的这笔费用。

What can public schools charge for?

公立学校可以收取什么费用？

Roza has some ideas.

罗扎有一些想法。

"A fee could cover field trips, assemblies, access to tutoring, access to aftercare, homework drop-in hours, end of the year parties."

“费用可以包括实地考察、集会、辅导、课后护理、家庭作业时间、年终聚会。”

That doesn't sit right with Levin, though.

不过，莱文对此并不认同。

She says, even if this kind of reimbursement is allowable under the law, "it's very wrong and very dangerous.

她说，即使法律允许这种报销，“这是非常错误、非常危险的。”

Public schools don't charge for most of what they provide because that's the entire point of public education."

公立学校所提供的大部分内容都不收费，因为这就是公共教育的全部意义。”

The best way to support public schools, she says, "is to fund public schools.

她说，支持公立学校的最佳方式是“资助公立学校。

It is not to accept a privatization program that throws a few crumbs at public school students."

这并不是接受给公立学校学生带来一些影响的私有化计划。”

When it comes to generating money for public schools, Roza agrees this new tax credit is "the most convoluted, circuitous way possible anybody could have ever laid out — and with all sorts of caveats in it."

当谈到为公立学校筹集资金时，罗扎同意这种新的税收抵免是“任何人都可能提出的最复杂、最迂回的方式——而且有各种各样的警告。”

But, she says, it's also a real program that won't benefit districts unless they actively embrace it.

但是，她说，这也是一个真正的计划，除非学区积极接受，否则不会让学区受益。

For the tax credit to raise a meaningful amount of money for public school communities, Roza says, they will not only need to team up with public-school focused SGOs.

Roza 表示，为了利用税收抵免为公立学校社区筹集大量资金，他们不仅需要与专注于公立学校的 SGO 合作。

They'll also need to convince local employers to include the option to donate as part of their regular payroll operations.

他们还需要说服当地雇主将捐赠选项纳入其常规工资业务的一部分。

School districts will want to fold it into their own payroll systems.

学区希望将其纳入自己的工资系统。

"The money is not showing up automatically," Roza says.

“钱不会自动出现，”罗扎说。

"Districts will have to play this game in order to get the money.

“各地区必须玩这个游戏才能拿到钱。

And where districts shrug their shoulders and say, 'I'm not doing this, I'm not gonna participate,' then they're not going to get any."

如果各地区耸耸肩说，‘我不会这样做，我不会参与’，那么他们就不会得到任何好处。”

Wealthier public schools will have a big advantage

富裕的公立学校将有很大的优势

Even if some public school communities do everything right, and money pours in, an old problem is sure to surface: The schools that need the most help, may benefit the least.

即使一些公立学校社区一切都做对了，资金涌入，一个老问题也肯定会浮出水面：最需要帮助的学校可能受益最少。

"It's the public schools that are in wealthy communities that have the most money locally that they can raise," says Jon Valant, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of its Brown Center on Education Policy.

布鲁金斯学会高级研究员兼布朗教育政策中心主任乔恩·瓦兰特表示：“富裕社区的公立学校在当地可以筹集到最多的资金。”

"And if the patterns of giving for this program look like patterns of giving for other programs across the country, we expect that most people are going to give to [SGOs] that then give back to the schools in their communities."

“如果这个项目的捐赠模式与全国其他项目的捐赠模式类似，我们预计大多数人都会向 [SGO] 捐赠，然后再回馈社区的学校。”

Valant and a team of Brookings researchers estimate that the wealthiest counties will generate roughly three times as much money through the program as the nation's poorest counties.

瓦兰特和布鲁金斯学会的一组研究人员估计，最富裕的县通过该计划产生的资金大约是全国最贫困县的三倍。

And that means, for lower-income, rural communities to benefit, they'll have to rely on wealthy donors' willingness to give beyond their own communities.

这意味着，低收入农村社区要想受益，就必须依赖富有的捐助者是否愿意在自己的社区之外进行捐赠。

That's not likely, Valant says.

瓦兰特说，这不太可能。

What's more, the program is not limited to helping low-income families.

更重要的是，该计划不仅限于帮助低收入家庭。

A student can qualify for help as long as their household earns less than 300% of the gross median income in their area.

只要学生的家庭收入低于所在地区总收入中位数的 300%，学生就有资格获得帮助。

That's roughly 95% of all students, according to the Treasury Department's own estimates .

根据财政部自己的估计，这大约占所有学生的 95%。

Valant says, "There are kids across the country whose families make a half-million dollars a year who are income-eligible."

瓦兰特说：“全国各地都有家庭年收入 50 万美元的孩子符合收入资格。”

Given how disproportionately the program is likely to benefit wealthy communities, Valant warns, "there's a real chance that we end up seeing this program as Title I for rich kids."

考虑到该计划可能会给富裕社区带来不成比例的好处，瓦兰特警告说，“我们最终很有可能将这个计划视为针对富人孩子的第一条计划。”

All of which makes the decision to opt in or out that much harder for hold-out Democrats.

所有这些都使得坚持到底的民主党人更难做出选择加入或退出的决定。

For Fred Jones Jr., of SEF, embracing the program was purely practical.

对于 SEF 的 Fred Jones Jr. 来说，接受该计划纯粹是为了实用。

He doesn't like it, and would advise those undecided Democratic governors to opt out.

他不喜欢这样，并建议那些犹豫不决的民主党州长选择退出。

But, in the South, where SEF works, most states have opted in.

但是，在 SEF 开展工作的南方，大多数州都选择加入。

It's real, like it or not.

这是真的，不管你喜不喜欢。

And Jones says, if there's no conscious effort in those states to raise funds for public school students, then it simply won't happen and most of the money will, indeed, go to private schools.

琼斯说，如果这些州没有有意识地努力为公立学校学生筹集资金，那么这根本就不会发生，而且大部分资金实际上都会流向私立学校。