Democrats ‘act as if school choice is the bubonic plague,’ former Trump adviser says 

“Why are Democrats and their teachers’ union masters trying to shoot down parental choice in education even when we now have so many examples of these programs working?” asks Stephen Moore, a former Trump economic adviser and visiting Heritage Foundation fellow, in his syndicated column last week. 

“Democrats (are) acting as if school choice is the bubonic plague,” he adds.

Moore, who was a senior economic adviser during Trump’s 2016 campaign and helped craft his 2017 tax-cut legislation, slammed the party for putting “customers last.”

“Public monopoly schools are showing flat or negative performance despite more funding than ever before,” he writes. “This is one reason why so many states are turning to the new model of school choice, with public funds going to scholarships and charter schools, and tax incentives for charitable donations to private and Catholic schools.”

Moore, who founded Unleash Prosperity with Steve Forbes, Larry Kudlow and Dr. Arthur B. Laffer to advocate for economic and education freedom, criticized Democrats’ efforts in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Rhode Island and Florida to fight school choice. 

The biggest disappointment, he said, is Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose budget “would slash $500 million from charter schools and gut education tax credits.” Shapiro campaigned in 2022 on supporting school choice but has since changed his tune.

The Democrat-controlled House voted for this, but the measure is expected to fail in the Republican-led Senate. Still, advocates are fighting hard to expand, not cut, school choice in the politically divided state.

“Working-class families desperately need more educational options, not lawmakers taking their marching orders from the special interests that fund their campaigns,” the Commonwealth Foundation wrote.

In Arizona, a ballot initiative would roll back one of the nation’s largest school choice programs. Rhode Island is poised to curb charter school growth. And in Florida, the teachers’ union has filed a lawsuit against its school choice program, which is the nation’s largest and, arguably, most successful.

“The Dems and their union puppet masters don’t want to get rid of these programs because they are failing the kids. They want to abolish them because they are getting better results than the public schools,” Moore writes, noting that Florida charter students outperform public school students “in 55 of 77 metrics.”

He explains how even with school choice, public schools will still educate the majority of students “for the foreseeable future,” but will face pressure to up their game.

Moore then urges states to opt in to the new federal school choice program, which was created in Trump’s sweeping budget bill last year. The Education Freedom Tax Credit takes effect in January, but only students in states that participate – 31 so far – can receive scholarships.

“The Trump tax cuts will allow potentially millions of disadvantaged kids to get scholarships from tax filers who put money in the schools,” Moore says. “It costs the states NOTHING to allow kids into the program. Amazingly, more than half the states with Democratic governors are passing up the FREE money to the parents in their states.”

One study estimated states could leave more than $20 billion on the table by not participating.

“That’s just plain dumb,” Moore concludes. “Maybe these politicians and school administrators have had too much social promotion,” a public school practice he criticized of advancing students who are not academically ready.

Nationally, more than 1.5 million students participate in school choice across 35 states.