Committee on Ways and Means
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to VOTE NO on H. Con. Res. 14, the budget reconciliation package, at today’s markup. Votes on this issue may be scored in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
This committee’s proposal is the linchpin of the entire budget reconciliation package. It would enact a series of tax breaks for the wealthy, large corporations, and other big businesses, including extension of many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The benefits would go overwhelmingly to billionaires and big corporations while the federal debt rises by nearly $5 trillion over the next 10 years.
To “pay for” the tax breaks, the package simultaneously slashes support for education, health care, and nutrition aid for students, working families, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and more. The committee’s proposal would also create a nationwide voucher program for private schools at a time when the adminstration has cut—and proposed billions more in cuts—in funding for the public schools that educate 9 out of 10 students. All told, the package represents a massive transfer of wealth from working families to the ultra rich.
We oppose creating a $20 billion tax credit voucher scheme and allowing 529 accounts to be used for home schooling. Every time voucher schemes are on state ballots—17 times in total, including three states last November—voters have rejected them. America cannot afford to fund two education systems, one private and one public. Taxpayer dollars should go to public schools open to all students, not private schools that can pick and choose their students.
Here are the facts about voucher-inspired tax breaks and policies:
- No evidence of greater student success. Nor is there any validity to claims that a “competitive marketplace” forces public schools to improve.
- No public accountability. Private schools can choose to discriminate—based on gender, disability, religion or academic achievement—and are not required to disclose to the public how they operate.
- Students lose civil rights. Private schools do not provide the same protections public schools are required to provide by law—Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Special needs students lose important legal rights and protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
- Higher costs. Subsidizing private, often religious, schools with taxpayer dollars is not just more expensive, it violates the fundamental principle of separation of church and state.
- Weaken public schools and surrounding communities. Twenty percent of our nation’s students live in rural communities where public schools are economic centers.
We also oppose the provision that would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to designate education and other nonprofit organizations as alleged terrorist supporters without justification, and suspend their tax-exempt status without due process. Doing so would weaponize the federal government and fuel political witch hunts under any administration, Republican or Democrat.
In addition to opposing the proposals cited above, we urge you to:
- Oppose any amendments that rob public schools of funding or resources
- Support any amendment that strikes the tax credit voucher scheme or adds civil rights protections for all students, or requires public accountability for participating private schools
- Support any amendments that maintain or increase support for the public schools that educate 9 out of 10 students
For all these reasons, we urge you to vote NO on H. Con. Res. 14.
Sincerely,
Marc Egan
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
