According to the Nation’s Report Card, in 2024, 40 percent of fourth-graders across the country performed below basic proficiency, the worst reading scores in more than 30 years. These children struggle with understanding simple stories or comprehending the meaning of common words. Many of their parents hold onto a dream of something different for their child: a public education that offers a real shot at a better future.
Unfortunately, the sole option often available is to send their child to a zoned neighborhood school that, for decades, has graduated single digit percentages of students ready for college. The lack of options does not result from their choices, but due to decisions made by distant bureaucrats and politicians in their states who oppose educational freedom.
But now, elected officials have the chance to change that, a decision that costs the state nothing but could open doors to better schools: public, private, or parochial. That power will soon sit with governors and state legislatures across the country as they decide whether children in their state can participate in the first-ever federal school choice program, funded entirely by private philanthropy.
Beginning January 2027, this provision, formally known as the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), will allow individuals to receive a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 when they donate to accredited, non-profit Scholarship-Granting Organizations (SGOs) like the Children’s Scholarship Fund in New York or Empower Illinois. These donations, which represent new money to the state, are pooled and distributed by the SGOs as scholarships for eligible education expenses, such as private school tuition or one-on-one tutoring.
As, respectively, the CEO of Democrats for Education Reform and the founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, an International Baccalaureate public charter high school in the Bronx, we see the potential for ECCA to be transformative, especially for economically disadvantaged students.
Importantly, low-income students in traditional public schools and public charter schools can also access the funds to pay for items such as tutoring costs, test preparation courses, exam fees, internet services, and special-needs education.
Research shows that high-income families spend five times more than low-income families on out-of-school enrichment activities, such as tutoring. With ECCA, working-class and poor families could finally access these educational supports typically reserved for the privileged few. This sounds like a no brainer. But, there’s a catch: Under the federal law, each state’s governor must “opt in” for families in their state to access the benefit.
Republican governors, already strong supporters of educational freedom tools like charter schools, education savings accounts (ESAs), and tax-credit scholarships, have signaled their eagerness to opt in. They understand that this is not a budget item, it’s a way to unlock private philanthropic dollars to expand opportunity for kids.
The concern is that Democratic governors, under political pressure from national teachers’ unions, may refuse to participate, effectively cutting off tens of thousands of students from these scholarships. It is the education equivalent of the decision faced by Republican governors in 2012 whether to accept or reject Medicaid expansion dollars under the Affordable Care Act.
Loud voices on the left are already pressuring Democrats to reject the funding—which, for the reasons listed in this piece, would be a mistake. Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, has falsely claimed that ECCA is “literally taking money from our most vulnerable students” and handing it to “rich folks” for vouchers. But ECCA uses voluntarily-donated dollars to expand access to education, not shrink it.
Similarly the Network for Public Education Action’s Diane Ravitch, progressive historian of education and former US Assistant Secretary of Education, is mobilizing state petitions to reject the funding as a purported “bait-and-switch… a calculated effort to close neighborhood schools and hand taxpayer dollars to private schools and homeschool operators.”
Yet school choice is broadly popular, with 84 percent of parents and over 70 percent of both Republicans and Democrats supporting choice. Giving families educational freedom is both good policy and good politics.
Darla Romfo, president of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, calculates that in a state the size of New York, if just one percent of taxpayers took the credit, it would generate $170 million in scholarships—enough for 34,000 students to access better schools or critical learning supports. And while some private schools charge exorbitant amounts in tuition, thousands across the country charge far lower fees, making them accessible with an ECCA scholarship.
Here’s the kicker: Even if a governor opts out, ECCA allows tax payers to still take the tax credit, but their donations will fund scholarships in other states.
The math is clear. The politics are clear. And the moral choice is clear. For the sake of millions of children, let’s hope governors and legislatures make the right call.
Reprinted with permission from AEI by Ian Rowe & Jorge Elorza.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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