Louisiana Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy speaks with reporters in the Dirksen Senate office building, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — The fierce debate over school choice initiatives took center stage Wednesday during a hearing before a U.S. Senate panel.
President Donald Trump’s administration and Republicans in Congress have made school choice a central part of their education agenda, including a broad nationwide school voucher program got involved in the GOP mega-tax and spending cuts bill that Trump signed into law in July.
The hearing took place in the middle of National School Choice Week, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education dubbed “It’s time to highlight the many different types of education in the United States and empower families to choose the best learning option to ensure their child’s success.”
The general term “school choice” focuses on alternative programs to an assigned public school. Opponents say these efforts drain vital funds and resources from school districts, though supporters say these initiatives are necessary for parents dissatisfied with local public schools.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held the hearing, described school choice as “a way to express the innovation we need to meet the needs of students.”
“Traditional schools are good for many students. But please give parents a choice if they aren’t,” added the Louisiana Republican.
Many school models to choose from
Advocates from Ohio and Florida touted the work of their organizations and broader school choice efforts in their states.
Cris Gulacy-Worrel serves as vice president of Oakmont Education, an operator of dropout charter schools serving more than 5,500 students in Ohio, Iowa and Michigan.
Gulacy-Worrel said last year that Oakmont Education “graduated 1,309 students and in the last three years alone, more than 4,500 young people entered the workforce directly.”
“For too long we have been told that school choice is about (Education Savings Accounts) or public charter schools – that is not true,” she said. “What we are really talking about is educational pluralism, a system in which there is room for many models and many paths to success.”
John Kirtley is president of Step Up For Students, a nonprofit scholarship funding organization that distributes scholarships to children in Florida.
Kirtley said his state is “moving toward a new definition of public education: Collect taxpayer dollars for children’s education, and then give families the ability to direct that money to different providers and even different delivery methods that best meet their children’s individual educational needs.”
More than half all students K-12 in the Sunshine State participate in a school choice program rather than attending their local public school.
Bernie Sanders sees the creation of a two-tier system
Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the panel’s ranking member, said that while there are “many things we can and should do to strengthen and improve education” in the country, “we should not create a two-tier education system in America – private schools for the wealthy and well-connected and severely underfunded and underfunded public schools for low-income, disabled and working-class children.”
The independent lawmaker from Vermont said that “unfortunately, that’s exactly what the Trump administration and my Republican colleagues in Congress are doing,” pointing to the statewide school voucher program currently in effect.
Sanders staff fired committee report On Wednesday, we analyzed state laws in the 21 states with school voucher programs administered by scholarship-granting organizations to understand the potential impacts of a future federal school voucher program.
Among the report’s findings, it said that “nearly half of the private schools analyzed (48%) explicitly state that they choose not to provide some or all students with disabilities with the services, protections and rights afforded to these students in public schools under federal law.”
Arizona Voucher Program
Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, testified about the negative consequences of private school vouchers in the Grand Canyon State.
In 2022, Arizona became the first state in the country introduction of a universal school voucher program.
Garcia called her state’s voucher program “a bloated mess that costs three times more than expected” and said vouchers “often only provide the illusion of choice.”
“Every child deserves a great public school in Arizona,” she added. “Our experience shows that vouchers are not the way to achieve this goal.”
National school voucher program
The enduring nationwide school voucher program, which begins in 2027, allocates up to $1,700 in federal tax credits to individuals who donate to organizations that provide scholarships to private and religious schools.
The program mirrors a wide-ranging bill that Cassidy and GOP Reps. Adrian Smith of Nebraska and Burgess Owens of Utah have reintroduced in their chambers in 2025.
Cassidy defended the program during the hearing, saying, “We’re not trying to displace public education funding — we’re trying to supplement education funding.”
As of Tuesday, nearly half of all states had signed up to the initiative Education Department.
