Efforts to subsidize private education take a variety of forms, with the most familiar being the private school voucher provided directly to parents. But there are other less direct ways governments subsidize private schools. One such method is to provide a tax credit to parents to offset their personal education expenses (education tax credit). Another is to allow individuals and corporations to reduce their tax bills by sending what they would otherwise owe in taxes to a foundation that turns the money into private school vouchers (tax credit voucher). Like directly funded vouchers, these tax loopholes do nothing to improve public schools, while actually reducing the amount of money available for proven school improvement strategies. These programs offer no proven educational benefit. This brief concludes that tax credit vouchers and education tax credits are just the latest in a long list of schemes that have diverted attention from what children and schools really need--programs and funding to recruit, train, and retain the best teachers; smaller classes so they can devote enough attention to each child; high-quality early childhood education programs so children come to school ready to learn; tutoring to ensure that those who fall behind aren't left behind, and the active involvement of parents and the community.