EFA Myths (January 2026)

Busting More Myths

With a new regime at the Department of Education, more information has been released about Education Freedom Accounts (EFA), the voucher program.  As a property taxpayer in New Boston, I found much of interest but, with limited space, will try to bust two myths.

Myth #1: The voucher program gives low-income families access to broader educational choices for their children.  This intention has proven to be unrealistic over the 4 years of the program. From 2021 to 2025, fewer and fewer numbers of children from low-income families use EFAs.  Of the $51.6 million in the current program (up from $8.1 million), only ~ $3 million is  going to low-income participants.

Myth #2: The voucher program helps taxpayers.  Republicans claim that taking children out of public school saves us money, as much as $266 million. The shocking fact is that 96.7% of the families getting EFAs did not have children in the public schools. We were not paying their public school costs, but now we are paying for their EFAs. In other words, it costs us more.

Our property taxes, that largely support public school costs, are kept high by the voucher program. Public money should be for public schools. We need a government that works for us.

Ellen Anderson