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Press Release

Trump’s latest executive order overreaches to steal money from public school students to fund private school vouchers

Trump is using his Project 2025 playbook to privatize education because he knows vouchers have repeatedly been a failure in Congress and rejected by voters at the ballot box
school vouchers rural schools
Voucher programs leave out wide swaths of students, especially Black and brown students as well as those living in rural areas with no or limited access to private schools.
Published: January 29, 2025

WASHINGTON—According to news reports, President Donald J. Trump is expected to sign an executive order to illegally funnel federal dollars to private schools and strip public school students of vital federal funding. 

The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Becky Pringle:

“Every student deserves fully-funded neighborhood public schools that give them a sense of belonging and prepare them with the lessons and life skills they need to follow their dreams and reach their full potential. Instead of stealing taxpayer money to fund private schools, we should focus on public schools—where 90% of children, and 95% of children with disabilities, in America, attend—not take desperately needed funds away from them. If we are serious about doing what is best for students, let’s reduce class sizes to give our students more one-on-one attention and increase salaries to address the teacher and staff shortages. The bottom line is vouchers have been a catastrophic failure everywhere they have been tried.

“President Trump is using his Project 2025 playbook to privatize education because he knows vouchers have repeatedly been a failure in Congress. Parents, educators, and voters know what students need—and vouchers are never the solution. In fact, when voters have a say about vouchers, they have been soundly rejected—time and again—at the ballot box. Just this past November, voters in Colorado, Kentucky and Nebraska overwhelmingly said no to vouchers. We know vouchers take money away from neighborhood public schools. We know students with disabilities depend on these same public schools. We know that voucher programs leave out wide swaths of students, especially Black and brown students as well as those living in rural areas with no or limited access to private schools. And we know this stunt is meaningless without the consent of Congress. So, we are putting all anti-public education politicians on notice: If you try to come for our students, for our schools, and for our communities, NEA members will mobilize and will defeat vouchers again.”

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.

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Great public schools for every student

The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States.