Last month, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announced the formation of the Task Force on Opportunity Scholarships for Tennessee to make recommendations to him on possible voucher programs in the state. He explained, "First and foremost, any new program must complement our ongoing efforts to reform education."

Private school vouchers, however, are not real education reform. Those appointed represent a fair, well-balanced group that will advise the governor based on existing research, and will hopefully come to this same conclusion. If AU's Legislative Department was appointed to the Task Force, here is what we would report:

1. Vouchers do not improve student achievement. Multiple studies of the D.C., Milwaukee, and Cleveland school voucher programs showed that students offered vouchers performed no better in reading and math than their public school counterparts. Tennessee's recent education reforms, on the other hand, have been extremely successful and have led to such vast improvement that the state was one of two chosen to receive over $500 million in federal funding as part of the Race to the Top competition.
2. Vouchers do not decrease education costs. Instead, tax dollars that would normally go to public schools would instead pay for vouchers, this limiting the capacity of public schools. At a time when Tennessee is facing significant budget cuts, the state should not be spending millions of dollars for taxpayers to attend private and religious schools.
3. Students who accept vouchers lose important rights and protections. Students who attend private schools with vouchers lose their First Amendment, due process, and other constitutional and statutory rights offered to them in public schools. Unfortunately, many parents and students are not even aware they will lose these rights when they accept a voucher.
4. Contrary to what many proponents in Tennessee may say, the D.C. voucher program is not working. The long-running program has not improved student achievement and students in the D.C. program do not feel safer or more satisfied with their schools than their public school counterparts. And, though some may cite that the program shows increased graduation rates, the study was less than comprehensive and fails to indicate how the graduation standards compare to the D.C. public schools.

You can see our full talking points about why vouchers are bad for Tennessee students, schools, and taxpayers here, and a rebuttal to claims that the D.C. program provides a good model for voucher programs here.