Exposing How Billionaires Shaped a Culture War Over School Vouchers

Class is in Session: Josh Cowan discusses the influence of powerful elites on school voucher policy, the dangers to public education, and his new book on BustED Pencils 

It’s a deep dive meant to show the movement to privatize public education through school vouchers and how billionaires shaped a culture war around it. Josh Cowan, professor of education policy at Michigan State University, recently released his book The Private Tears: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers and joined Dr. Tim Slekar and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci, on the BustED Pencils show, to talk about it.  

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LISTEN to the entire interview here:

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Cowan tells the hosts he was once an open-minded policy analyst willing to explore vouchers. But he explains how his research eventually revealed a lack of evidence supporting these programs.

“The last positive study showing that vouchers improved educational outcomes is over 22 years old,” Cowan explains. “Since then, the results have shown not just stagnation, but significant academic harm to students.”

According to Cowan, 70% of students using vouchers are already attending private schools. This means the public is footing the bill for families who were already privately educated. 

“And even more alarming are the negative effects on the 30% who do transfer from public to private schools, often attending underfunded and underperforming “subprime” private institutions,” Cowan says.

Slekar and Lupinacci ask if the current political climate weighs in on the school vouchers issue. Cowan shares that the original academic pretense for school vouchers has been dropped in favor of culture war rhetoric. 

“This isn’t about improving schools anymore,” he responds. “It’s about fighting ‘woke’ education, pushing for ‘parental rights,’ and reinforcing a dangerous agenda that marginalizes vulnerable communities, including LGBTQ families and students of color.”

Cowan describes his book, The Private Tears, as an exploration of how the current voucher expansion is tied to broader political goals, like the proposed dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education under Project 2025—a right-wing manifesto backed by powerful interests, including the Heritage Foundation.

Cowan also tells Slekar and Lupinacci, vouchers have consistently failed to win public support when put to a direct vote, while behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts and a lack of accountability, continues.

“We have to reject this privatization push,” Cowan urges. “Vouchers defund public schools, devastate student learning, and discriminate against vulnerable kids and families. That’s the simple truth.”

Cowan invites listeners to explore his extensive research and come to their own conclusions about the voucher debate.