Dear Friend,

In less than two weeks, religious extremists and their lawmaker allies in Iowa and Utah rushed through and passed new private school voucher programs that will divert millions of taxpayer dollars away from public school students and into the coffers of private religious schools. In all, state legislators across the country have introduced more than 100 private school voucher bills in the first month of 2023 – more than in any year in recent memory.

Vouchers just don’t work – they don’t improve students’ educational outcomes. But the well-funded shadow network of religious extremists and education privatizers like billionaire Betsy DeVos who are pushing vouchers don’t care about the facts.

Donate today to help us protect public schools before it’s too late. 

Americans United and our partners in the National Coalition for Public Education (which AU co-chairs) are ensuring that everyone, including legislators, understands all the reasons to oppose private school vouchers. Vouchers force taxpayers to fund religious indoctrination. They fund private schools that discriminate against students, families and staff. They lack accountability. 

It’s all part of the billion-dollar shadow network’s end goal of destroying public education and the separation of church and state.

Emboldened by the conservative bloc of the U.S. Supreme Court, they’re even looking beyond religious private schools. Just this week AU’s legal experts urged Oklahoma officials to reject bad advice that the law requires them to allow public charter schools – public schools – to teach religious curriculum and even indoctrinate children into a religion. 

We can’t allow these extremists to defund and dismantle our secular public education system. Please support AU’s efforts now.

The separation of church and state means that public money must fund public schools. With your support, we’ll continue to fight for both religious freedom and public education for all.

With hope and determination,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO