Voucher Programs

History

The history of vouchers in the United Stated dates back more than 200 years to programs implemented in Maine and Vermont to provide schooling for children living in areas that did not have a school that included a child's grade level. In 1956, Virginia enacted a tuition voucher bill to award tuition vouchers and tax credits to white families attending a charter school established for white children. Although the Virginia courts upheld the validity of the program, the U.S. Supreme Court held the program in violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court noted that the program could not be used to circumvent constitutional protections, namely, the desegregation of public schools following the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling. In the 1960s and 1970s, vouchers were advocated by the Lyndon Johnson administration to provide private school tuition for low-income families and by the Richard Nixon administration to promote free market principles in K—12 education.

In the 1990s, vouchers became a mechanism to allow urban school students to exercise school choice. The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is the oldest and largest urban school voucher program in the country. Established in 1990, the MPCP was followed by the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program (CSTP) in 1996. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) was enacted by Congress in 2004. All three programs were originally designed to enable low-income students who were struggling in public schools to access private schools. The Wisconsin legislature, however, amended the MPCP in 1995 to permit children in grades K—3 who were already enrolled in private and religious schools to participate in the program. While the CSTP gives preference to low-income students, students are eligible regardless of family income. The DCOSP was the first federally funded voucher program.

To participate in the Milwaukee program, students must reside in Milwaukee and have a family income no greater than 175 percent of the federal poverty limit. The amount was later increased to 220 percent if the student was already at a choice school and the family's income increased. Students participating in the MPCP must take a nationally normed standardized test. Similar to Milwaukee's program, the Cleveland program also provides a dollar value cap on tuition. Unlike Milwaukee, there is no income cap for families to participate. However, if more than the maximum of 60,000 students apply, a lottery will be held and preference will be given to families earning no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty limit. Although there is no residential requirement, students must be assigned to a school rated in Academic Emergency or Academic Watch for several years to qualify. Students in the Cleveland program, however, must participate in the state assessment program. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program allows children of residents of the district who earn less than 125 percent of the federal poverty limit to attend a public, charter, or private school of their choosing.

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