Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton

When is a “school choice” proposal not really about school choice? In the budget bill that Republicans rushed through the House on May 12, 2025, school choice is just a cover-up for tax relief for the rich.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to ram through a major taxpayer-funded private school program, according to education policy experts who appeared on an online “town hall” on May 22, 2025, which was about a nationwide school voucher scheme that’s buried deep in the text of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

On the surface, the bill promises to provide $5 billion annually in school voucher funds for parents to apply for and use to pay for private-school tuition, homeschooling, and for-profit online learning. “Supporters [of school choice have] hailed the proposal as ‘historic’ and a ‘huge win,’” reported Dana Goldstein of the New York Times in May.

But that topline description of what the measure proposes is deceptive and hides what amounts to “a tax shelter that serves to benefit only the most wealthy Americans,” said David R. Schuler in the town hall. Schuler is the executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

Although Goldstein framed the measure in pure political terms as a way for Republicans to push through a bill Democrats oppose, it’s not really about party politics, and opposition to the proposal is bipartisan.

And like Goldstein

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