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EAST LANSING, Mich. – Education is only becoming a bigger issue for both political parties. Questions and discussions surrounding the role of parents and their children’s education as well as funding and the use of school vouchers remain top of mind as we prepare for a new administration. President-elect Donald Trump could make significant changes to the U.S. Department of Education, as questions loom about the future of the department under Trump.
Josh Cowen is a professor of education policy in Michigan State University’s College of Education. He has worked across the country on policy issues related to school choice, teacher quality and education reform. Cowen is the author of the new book The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers (Harvard Education Press). Here, he answers questions on what changes could come to education and what vouchers could mean for the U.S.
Why has U.S. education policy become such a hot-button issue?
Education is about the future. To the extent that both sides of the American political spectrum are focusing on education more now than they have in the past, it’s because we’re having a debate about what the best way to make public policy on behalf of children — tomorrow’s leaders — really is today. On the Right, you see this playing out as a field in their broader culture wars: which school bathrooms kids use, which books they can read or are banned, what names they call themselves or whether they hear accurate stories about race in American history. On the Left, you hear more about equity in educational outcomes, early childhood interventions, nutrition and health care as part of whole-child education, and so on. Debates about education really come down to a political debate about what the most pressing concerns for the future are.
How could a Trump presidency impact the U.S. Department of Education and education policy?
Both the Trump campaign platform and its adjacent Project 2025 (a “blueprint” for policy and staffing assembled by conservative think tanks) demanded the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. They also call for universal school vouchers and an end to “gender ideology” as well as an assortment of attacks on racial justice. The federal education department is the chief national antidiscrimination authority when it comes to schools and colleges. So ending it — whether Trump is successful doing so or not — is really a dog whistle for ending big oversight programs on discrimination. I’ve called this the “politics of humiliation” and an effort to “cast out” vulnerable children, and I think we’re unfortunately entering a period where that is going to be a priority for this new administration.
What would universal school vouchers mean for the country?
School vouchers are any form of public spending (direct payments, tax credits, savings accounts) that fund private K-12 tuition. I will note that voters have never supported vouchers when put to direct ballot in the states, and that trend continued on Election Day 2024, with all 3 statewide ballot initiatives (in CO, KY and NE) going down to defeat, the latter two in states won by Donald Trump.
“Universal” vouchers mean anyone is eligible, not lower-income families that were recipients in the past. And contrary to public perception, the vast majority of voucher users thus far were already in private school before taxpayers picked up the check. What this means is that vouchers are generally new costs to state budgets. And at the local district level, the few kids who do transfer from public to private school using a voucher, take with them crucial funding while costs like building and maintenance, transportation and teacher salaries remain. We know that voucher advocates in the long-term would like a U.S. Supreme Court ruling mandating vouchers in all states. That would drastically change the way we think about education and its purpose in this country.
What policy suggestions or actions do you think the U.S. government should take to improve K-12 education?
You get what you pay for. Whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge of federal, state or local governments, they direct spending toward the things they value. The phrase for that is “budgets are moral documents.” Added to that, in my view, is the fact that researchers have largely settled any doubt that direct investments in public school have generational payoffs — not just in terms of academics, but later in life outcomes like wage growth and reductions in crime. So to me, whoever is in charge of whatever level of government, the most important thing to do is commit to new investment in local communities and in local public schools. The evidence says that works, and I happen to think it’s also the right thing to do.
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