School Vouchers and Tax Credits Scholarship Programs

WHEREAS, the NAACP has always fought for strong, integrated, quality public schools; and

WHEREAS, 51% of children who attend public schools live in poverty; and

WHEREAS, school vouchers are promoted as a means of increasing academic gains for students from low socio-economic backgrounds by enabling them to attend a private school, but research shows there is no clear academic advantage to attending a private school; and

WHEREAS, school vouchers funnel valuable funds into private schools by diverting funds from public schools; and

WHEREAS, school vouchers impede communities from creating stronger relationships among public schools, parents, and teachers because of the stigma attached to the public school system; and

WHEREAS, school vouchers give parents the false idea that public schools are inadequate to meet their child's needs; and

WHEREAS, school vouchers violate some state constitutions because they redirect tax funds to provide financial support to sectarian schools; and

WHEREAS, in Florida, for example, approximately 71% of the private schools which participate on the Scholarship Program are sectarian, and 82% of all students receiving school vouchers attend sectarian schools; and

WHEREAS, certain state voucher programs avoid direct funding of private schools only by the ruse of channeling taxpayer funds through tax expenditures.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the NAACP reaffirms its 2003 and 2010 prior opposition to school vouchers and to the privatization of public schools; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stands opposed to the government dissemination of school vouchers as a means of undermining public education and using tax dollars for vouchers that will subsidize private and sectarian education; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the NAACP will continue to encourage all of its Units to work to provide support for the public school system, to encourage community members to provide services and support to parents, teachers, and students in public schools, and to promote the public school system as the most effective way of providing high quality education to all children.