Joanna LeFebvre

Tracking the Fallout From State Tax Cuts | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities States have gone on a tax-cutting spree in recent years. More than half have slashed income taxes for wealthy people and corporations, in some cases by extraordinary amounts. Communities are starting ...

Wyoming Passes 25% Property Tax Cut for Homeowners — Without Replacing Lost Revenue for Local Services: "As a result, local officials are having to cut their budgets by up to 23 percent, and the state is now facing a $686 million school funding deficit by 2030." www.cbpp.org/research/sta...

States are increasingly calling for special sessions this year, and it’s not just routine business. From addressing the impact of federal policy, to state tax debates, to shoring up disaster aid and political power plays, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of legislative overtime.🧵

🚨 BREAKING: A shocking $440M in unused ESA voucher funds are sitting in bank accounts — while AZ's public schools are left under-resourced and struggling.

This hoarding of taxpayer dollars by mostly wealthy families hurts public school students who go without needed supports 😠

See How Much Federal Money Trump Is Holding Back From Your District Hundreds of districts will lose more than $1 million each, according to a new analysis.

Yesterday, I shared my @educationwork.newamerica.org team's district impact analysis of the $6+ billion that the Trump admin is refusing to disburse to schools (link in 2nd post). Now, @edweek.org has published our funding figures for ALL districts in the US for which we have data. Search for yours↓

"Eight states—AL, AZ, FL, GA, ID, IN, NE and NC—saw their real per-pupil education expenditures decline even while their per capita GDP went up. These eight states had the capacity to expand educational opportunities for their state’s children but have gone in the opposite direction instead."

Senate Megabill Takes Cap Off Unprecedented Private School Voucher Tax Credit, Potentially Raising Cost by Tens of Billions Relative to House Version The tax and spending legislation approved by the U.S. Senate would create an unprecedented, dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit designed to support private school vouchers. This tax credit has the po...

New analysis from @itep.org: if only 25% of eligible tax filers were to claim the school voucher tax credit in the Senate's reconciliation bill, federal revenue would be reduced by over $25 billion per year - far more than previous versions. itep.org/trump-megabi...

Make no mistake-- today’s Supreme Court ruling does not end constitutionally guaranteed birthright citizenship. However, the SCOTUS has ruled against the injunctions that have been blocking The Trump Administration’s birthright citizenship EO from being implemented nationwide.

Instead of using a tax shelter for the wealthy to weaken the public schools that serve 90% of kids, lawmakers should invest in students and take us one step closer to the promise of an excellent public education for every child.

9 things to know about the big, private-school voucher plan in Republicans' tax bill NPR asked researchers, advocates, tax experts, a parent and a public school leader for their thoughts on this first-of-its-kind national voucher plan. Here's what they said.

See this piece from @npr.org for a deeper dive into 9 things to know about the federal school voucher proposal: www.npr.org/2025/05/23/n...

Kentucky Voters Buried Private School Vouchers. One More Idea Must Die to Truly Reinvest in Our Public Schools - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Kentucky can't truly reinvest in our public schools unless lawmakers abandon the goal of eliminating the state's income tax.

Vouchers are often unpopular, incl. in red states, b/c voters prefer to spend public $ on public schools: Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure last fall in all 120 counties that would have amended the KY constitution to allow school vouchers. @kypolicy.bsky.social kypolicy.org/kentucky-vot...

Federal Voucher System — Like Florida’s — Would Divert Funding to Private Schools and Home-Schoolers Florida has lessons to offer about vouchers.

Experts at @floridapolicy.bsky.social warn a federal voucher cld explode in cost over time if expanded, as happened in Florida. FL’s vouchers now eat up more than 25% of the state’s K-12 budget, w/ most $$ subsidizing students who already attended private school www.floridapolicy.org/posts/federa...

House Tax Bill Enlists the Wealthy to Spread Private School Vouchers The House tax plan cuts charitable giving tax incentives for donors to most nonprofit groups while roughly tripling the incentive available to donors to groups that fund private K-12 school vouchers. ...

The House’s national school voucher would reduce federal revenue by about $20B per Congress's JCT and state revenue by over $450M per @itep.org. Costs would increase if extended beyond 2029 like the Senate version or if the program expands as they have in many states. itep.org/house-tax-bi...

Samantha Jacoby on X: "House Rs’ tax bill includes a new federal tax credit to subsidize private school vouchers — effectively the first nationwide voucher program. Plus, it’s structured as a costly tax break for the wealthy w/an egregious capital gains tax loophole. It should be rejected." / X House Rs’ tax bill includes a new federal tax credit to subsidize private school vouchers — effectively the first nationwide voucher program. Plus, it’s structured as a costly tax break for the wealthy w/an egregious capital gains tax loophole. It should be rejected.

As CBPP's Samantha Jacoby explains, the school vouchers would be funded with a $1 for $1 tax break for contributions to voucher-bundling orgs—more generous than any other charitable deduction. And those who give stock would benefit from an egregious capital gains tax shelter. x.com/jacsamoby/st...

How vouchers harm public schools: Calculating the cost of voucher programs to public school districts Overview What this report is about Voucher programs for schools are rapidly expanding across the country. Under these programs, public budgets provide funding to parents to either send their children ...

A national voucher could incentivize students to leave public schools, shortchanging remaining students by leaving fewer dollars for costs like books & teachers because a higher proportion of funding wld be needed to cover fixed costs like heating & maintenance. @epi.org www.epi.org/publication/...

The national school voucher proposal in the Senate GOP reconciliation plan would threaten students’ access to quality public schools, give tax breaks to the wealthy, & override states that have rejected these harmful policies. Lawmakers who care about our kids’ futures should reject it.

Public education would be at especially high risk, given that it makes up the largest share of state budgets. For context: just the potential cost of the proposed 5% minimum SNAP match is the equivalent of average salary costs for about 65K public school teachers nationwide.

NEW REPORT: House Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill, now in the Senate, would shift major new costs to the state- & local-level, paving the way for harmful cuts to food assistance, health care, & other services like education. Here’s the 3 top things to know:🧵

Rather than course correct, Senate Republican leaders are rushing to advance a bill that is in some ways even more destructive and harmful than the unpopular House Republican bill. The Senate must reject it.

House Republicans’ new budget bills promise widespread harm to people & communities in every state across the U.S. One way they seek to hide these harmful impacts is by slashing federal funding & then passing the buck to state & local gov’ts to make the toughest choices & cuts.🧵

Samantha Jacoby on X: House Rs’ tax bill includes a new federal tax credit to subsidize private school vouchers — effectively the first nationwide voucher program. Plus, it’s structured as a costly tax break for the wealthy w/an egregious capital gains tax loophole. It should be rejected.

CBPP's Samantha Jacoby posted on X explaining how the House Republican tax bill's new federal tax credit to subsidize private school vouchers works: x.com/jacsamoby/st...

States Should Bolster, Not Undermine, Education Gains Made with ESSER Funds | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities An unprecedented $190 billion federal investment in education during the COVID-19 pandemic improved academic achievement and prevented potentially catastrophic social and educational losses for many.....

This is yet another example of this Admin’s neglect of resources for public school students and another reason why states should raise revenue for education rather than cut it. www.cbpp.org/blog/states-...

Close to $3 Billion in Relief Funds in Jeopardy as Ed Dept. Halts Payments Officials labeled even extensions agreed upon during Trump’s tenure ‘unreasonable’ and cited what it called examples of ‘misuse.’

#ESSER mitigated pandemic learning loss. The most vulnerable students are still recovering, but now Dept. of Ed is clawing back billions already obligated to investments like tutoring and healthy learning environments, jeopardizing ongoing academic recovery. www.the74million.org/article/clos...

Why we need the US Dept. Of Education.

UPDATE: Trump just signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. This will harm our most vulnerable students and exacerbate existing disparities in educational outcomes.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

Must read thread on impact of gutting Dept. of Ed's Office of Civil Rights on students with disabilities:

New from @itep.org: some in Congress want to give tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations to subsidize tuition for students who already attend private school. I can think of some less ~wasteful~ ways to spend those public dollars...

10/10 Together, these actions will severely weaken public schools’ ability to serve the 90% of U.S. students who rely on them. If the admin is successful, costs could shift to states or services for students could simply erode.

Project 2025 Policies Would Make Schools Less Safe for All Students New analysis from the Center for American Progress shows how anti-LGBTQI+ school policies could increase risks of school bullying.

9/10 If school funding is cut because of inclusive policies and fewer supports are available, rates of bullying, depression, suicidality and hate crimes will increase for ALL students. www.americanprogress.org/article/proj...

Trump on DEI And Anti-Discrimination Law | American Civil Liberties Union

8/10 Although likely illegal, attacks on inclusive school policies could hinder teachers’ abilities to support LGBTQ+ students & students of color. Inclusive environments contribute to academic success for all students, regardless of gender or race. www.aclu.org/trump-on-dei...

Districts Can't Pay Teachers Promised Incentives After Trump Admin. Cuts Funding Grants meant for teacher and school leader development in high-need schools were abruptly cut by the Trump administration. Districts are looking for other options.

7/10 School districts are already losing teacher recruitment and retention grants, cut because the Admin classifies them as “DEI”. These cuts will ultimately harm students as districts will have to pull funding from other programs or risk losing teachers. www.edweek.org/leadership/d...