The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) has been reintroduced in Congress. The bill would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits on a national level to fund private and religious K-12 schools. We join the opposition to the ECCA which includes these organizations: the National Education Association, a major teacher’s union, the National PTA, a parent advocacy group, the National Coalition for Public Education, a coalition of organizations dedicated to public education, the Center for Inquiry, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Interfaith Alliance, and the American Humanist Association.

We argue that the ECCA would divert funding from public schools, potentially leading to reduced resources and lower quality education. We have concerns that voucher-inspired schemes, like those proposed in the ECCA, lack accountability and transparency, making it difficult to ensure that funds are used effectively and that students are benefiting. The ECCA policies could exacerbate existing inequalities, potentially leaving students with special needs and those from low-income backgrounds at a great disadvantage. The ECCA could lead to the use of taxpayer funds to support religious schools, potentially violating the separation of church and state.

Urge Congress to oppose the Educational Choice for Children Act!

As humanists and freethinkers, we know that school vouchers harm a fair educational system. The religious right says they promote “educational freedom,” but private school vouchers do not provide real freedom or choice to students and parents. The “choice” in voucher programs is given entirely to private schools, which can choose to legally discriminate against students for reasons including disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, academic achievement, and economic status.

You can read the bill here: Https://www.taxnotes.com/research/federal/legislative-documents/legislative-text/s-292-educational-choice-children-act-2025-introduced/7qtr5

Thank you.