For over 50 years, the verdict has been consistent: U.S. voters have rejected school vouchers all 17 times they’ve appeared on state ballots. Here in Colorado, we rejected a “school choice” initiative in 2024, and voucher initiatives in 1992 and 1998.
Yet, at the insistence of President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, vouchers are again being pushed on Colorado, this time through a program that dangles federal money like a shiny lure. The Colorado Sun reports that Gov. Jared Polis plans to bite, opting into that program, which is part of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That would be a mistake.
The new program funnels taxpayer money through “Scholarship Granting Organizations,” or SGOs. It invites taxpayers who owe taxes up to $1,700 to divert that money to SGOs instead. SGO leaders can pocket 10% and then must send the rest to students for eligible expenses.
Those expenses include tutoring and extended day programs, but the 800-pound gorilla is private school tuition — the primary beneficiary and the reason why Trump and his allies created the SGO program.
Moreover, the money will likely come with strings attached, blocking our ability to protect children from discrimination and undermining public education. The law itself doesn’t forbid states from shaping the program to focus on, e.g., tutoring. But Trump’s Treasury Department is writing rules likely to require taxpayer funding for deregulated private schools — denying Colorado crucial flexibility.
A program sold as adaptable will then become a Trump-branded straitjacket and a devil’s bargain.
The decision of whether to opt in Colorado currently lies with Polis. But any Colorado politicians tempted by this Trojan horse should set clear conditions: The state will not join any program that limits our right to use funds according to our own priorities — accountability, equity and evidence-based support for all students.
Colorado’s underfunded public schools are where more investment is needed. Leaders should insist on directing any SGO funds toward strategies like high-quality tutoring that lift children up — not vouchers proven to drag them down.
This flexibility is crucial in Colorado, where voters have rejected vouchers as harmful. The disadvantages are real; the evidence is damning. The best research on large-scale voucher programs comes from Louisiana, Indiana and Ohio, where voucher-using students suffered severe reductions in achievement, especially in math. The declines were similar to losses from the coronavirus and greater than Hurricane Katrina’s impacts in New Orleans.
Voucher programs also strip students of important safeguards. Protections for students with disabilities and other antidiscrimination laws generally do not apply once a child leaves a public school for a private one, even if taxpayers are footing the bill.
In states with tax-credit programs similar to this new federal SGO plan, funds have flowed disproportionately to wealthier families and communities, amplifying inequality.
It’s little wonder that Democratic governors in Oregon, Wisconsin and New Mexico have refused to join the federal program.
Short of outright rejection, Polis should tell D.C. that Colorado will opt in only if Treasury’s regulations allow us to exclude private-school tuition as an eligible expense. At minimum, he should insist on the right to regulate private schools accepting taxpayer subsidies, to protect students against discrimination, unqualified teachers and low academic quality.
By making these terms clear up front, our governor would not later be tempted to negotiate away such safeguards for students and their public schools. Students will not be protected unless we adopt at least the level of oversight that European countries apply to their state-funded private schools.
Since the law requires states to opt in or out annually, the candidates running to replace Polis in November should likewise promise not to join a program that leaves children unprotected. On the Democratic side, Attorney General Phil Weiser, recently announced he would opt us out; Sen. Michael Bennet has not yet publicly announced his intentions.
Every other Democratic governor has opted out or is waiting to see whether Trump’s Treasury Department issues sound regulations. Polis should be in no hurry; the law does not require a decision until late-2026.
By demanding flexibility to honor Colorado’s commitments to equity, accountability and public education, Polis and others seeking to lead the state in the future would simply be asking Trump’s appointees to stand by the administration’s promise to “return authority over education to the States and local communities.”
Alas, we don’t expect such a commitment from the Treasury. Instead, we expect the administration’s overarching goal of pushing for unregulated voucher programs will supersede any latent fondness for federalism.
If that happens — if the Treasury rules restrict states’ ability to flexibly implement the program — Colorado’s decision to opt out becomes easy. The message from 50 years of state-level battles is unmistakable: Voters do not want vouchers. The new federal gambit must not override the will of our people. Colorado’s leaders should just say no.
Kevin Welner, of Lyons, is professor emeritus of education policy at the University of Colorado and directs the National Education Policy Center, housed at CU.
Kathy Gebhardt, of Boulder, is an elected member of the State Board of Education, representing Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District.
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