Dr. Joshua Cowen, Leading National Expert on Private Education Vouchers, Joins Education Law Center as Visiting Senior Fellow
Education Law Center welcomes Dr. Josh Cowen as a Visiting Senior Fellow, adding significant expertise to the organization’s ongoing work to oppose private education vouchers and support public schools.
Dr. Cowen is taking a one-year distinguished leave from his position as Professor of Education Policy at Michigan State University’s College of Education. As Senior Fellow beginning August 1, 2024, Dr. Cowen will provide overall strategic, policy, research, and communications advice and direction; add to the advocacy tools available through ELC’s anti-voucher campaign Public Funds Public Schools (PFPS); respond to media requests as well as requests for assistance, testimony, briefings, and presentations; and spearhead research reports.
“Dr. Cowen will be an invaluable asset as we continue to transform PFPS into a national hub supporting efforts across the states and at the federal level to halt and roll back voucher programs,” said Jessica Levin, ELC Litigation Director and Director of PFPS. “Dr. Cowen is a foremost authority on school vouchers and has done crucial work to debunk the myths surrounding dangerous and destabilizing efforts to divert taxpayer funds, which are so critical for supporting public education, to private schools.”
Dr. Cowen is a frequently quoted source in media stories about private school vouchers and has published numerous scholarly articles on the subject. Recently, his writing has focused on voucher students’ poor academic results, as well as the role of vouchers in defunding and segregating public schools. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, which will appear this September.
“I’m pleased to join ELC for the upcoming year as we ramp up national efforts to turn back the spread of vouchers,” said Dr. Cowen. “Research shows that vouchers largely subsidize wealthier families who already send their kids to private school, are academically disruptive and harmful to students, drive more students into schools with discriminatory admissions policies, and have devastating fiscal consequences on public school systems.”
The scope and speed of the voucher threat to public education is alarming. More than half the states now operate at least one voucher program diverting public dollars to private education. In just the last three years, a dozen states have implemented voucher programs with universal (or near-universal) eligibility, meaning any student can receive a voucher regardless of family income or whether they have ever attended a public school.
“Vouchers represent a clear and present danger not only to public education but to our democracy,” said Robert Kim, ELC Executive Director. “We are very fortunate to have Dr. Cowen as our Senior Fellow this year and look forward to working with him to increase public awareness and assist state and local efforts to oppose vouchers and voucher proposals in multiple states.”
For more information about ELC’s anti-voucher campaign, visit the Public Funds Public Schools website.
Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Director of Policy, Strategic Partnerships and Communications
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x240