School-choice opponents are going through a tough time. Twelve states now have universal or near universal educational-choice programs, up from zero just five years ago. More than one-third of American school children will soon be eligible for a voucher, education savings account, tax-credit scholarship, or tax rebate for private-school tuition. Whatever opponents have been doing, it clearly has not worked.
Maybe that is why they have settled on a new argument against school choice: It promotes “Christian nationalism.” At the recent 2024 convention of the American Federation of Teachers, Michigan State University professor Josh Cowen said that the push for school choice is “all about remaking our country in the image of Christian nationalism.” Earlier this year, Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and state, said, “Christian Nationalists and their lawmaker allies across the country have been emboldened by recent Supreme Court decisions that undermined church-state separation. They are pushing private school voucher schemes like never before as part of their crusade against public education and to enlarge their own power.” Pennsylvania state senator Lindsey Williams told an anti-school-choice rally earlier this year that voucher supporters shared the goals of Christian nationalists, “a country that favors evangelical Christian beliefs over all other beliefs.”
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