OKLAHOMA CITY – House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, released the following statement after new data showed the tax-funded private school voucher, or Parental Choice Tax Credit, is mainly going toward the wealthiest families. 

“This new data, while upsetting and an indictment of what happens when we use public tax dollars to fund private education, is not surprising,” said Leader Munson. “Before the tax credit was expanded to $275M this session, there were reports showing that 90% of the tax credit recipients were already sending their children to private schools. Now, we are seeing even fewer lower- and middle-income families receive this credit—as Republicans supporting it claimed would help. Public school teachers and support staff are still not getting the pay they deserve while class sizes continue to grow and resources become limited. $275M would be transformative for our public schools, but instead, those millions in public tax dollars are going to families who do not need it. It is unacceptable.

“We knew this would happen, but seeing this data is no less discouraging. Our public education system has no chance of advancing from dead last in the national ranking when the legislature prioritizes allocating public dollars to private schools. Every additional dollar for public education this session was attached to a new mandate by the legislature. If we want to use our public dollars for private schools, we should require the same transparency and oversight as our public schools. Until then, we will continue to see reports that show Oklahoma taxpayers subsidizing private school tuition for the wealthiest among us.”

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