Some Democratic governors have signaled plans to join President Trump’s federal school choice program, prompting teachers unions to launch a counterattack.
Included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Education Freedom Tax Credit will let people deduct up to $1,700 per year in donations to approved nonprofit scholarship programs on their income tax returns starting in January.
The IRS estimated this month that 27 states have opted into the program, which directs scholarship recipients to spend the funds on tuition and fees at the campus of their choice.
Republican governors lead most of those states, including Texas and Indiana, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democrat among them.
But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has also pledged to participate, bucking union leaders and party members who condemn the program as a way of undermining public schools.
In North Carolina this month, the GOP-led General Assembly overrode Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of a bill adopting the program. Mr. Stein has since reversed course, stating that he sees “potential opportunities for public school students to benefit.”
More Democrat-led states could be on the way. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee signed a law last week that says the Ocean State will participate if its General Assembly passes a bill for his signature.
“Should future federal guidance allow funds to be used exclusively for purposes such as after-school tutoring, transportation, and educational technology — without supporting private school tuition or voucher-equivalent programs — I would be willing to work with the General Assembly to evaluate participation under those limited circumstances,” Mr. McKee said.
Republican-led legislatures in Kansas and Kentucky have also overridden vetoes from their Democratic governors, formally adopting the program.
Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Tony Evers of Wisconsin are the only Democrats among the party’s 24 state executives who have publicly rejected the tax credit.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham originally pledged to oppose the program, citing concerns about accountability and loss of public school funding. She has since reconsidered her position under pressure from Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups, who insist the tax credit could bring lucrative private donations to public charter schools.
Virginia opted into the program last year under former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. His Democratic successor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger, has made no effort to repeal the decision.
Launching a counterattack on the trend, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers called on Democratic governors in an open letter Tuesday to resist the program.
“The program is a Trojan horse carrying near-universal K-12 private school vouchers into every state that participates — even states where voters have rejected vouchers at the ballot box,” federation President Randi Weingarten and association President Becky Pringle wrote in the letter.
They noted that roughly 90% of the nation’s schoolchildren attend public schools. They also cited an earlier letter from 23 state teachers unions calling on their governors to reject the credit.
The Trump administration and advocates of the program have stressed that it doesn’t touch a single dollar of state education funds.
The American Federation for Children, a leading school-choice advocacy group, has pointed to a surge in parents seeking alternative education options since the unions pressured public campuses to extend COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
“The reality is that big schooling unions benefit when dollars flow through the system, while students benefit when scholarship dollars flow directly to them and their parents,” said Brian Jodice, the federation’s national press secretary.
He added: “Teachers, schools and students all win under the Education Freedom Tax Credit — but not the unions, and that is a very good thing.”
‘Lifts all boats’
Advocates of the federal tax credit have insisted that it will help public schoolchildren.
The credit builds on similar state tax credits for low-income families that have proved popular in 21 states, including Florida and Arizona.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that $4 billion in tax credits will be claimed annually under the new federal program, bolstering the state programs.
Deductible donations will go only to state-approved nonprofits such as Arete Scholars, which distributes scholarships to 3,500 low-income children attending 350 private schools in Georgia and Louisiana.
Arthur Dupre, Arete’s president, said politicians on both sides of the aisle are coming to realize that the tax credit “lifts all boats” by creating “pathways out of poverty” for children stuck in failing schools.
“Giving financially struggling families more educational options is not an attack on public education,” Mr. Dupre said in an email. “It is an investment in children and in our nation’s future.”
It’s unlikely that the program will allow Democratic governors in states such as Rhode Island and North Carolina to exclude private school scholarships from receiving tax-deductible donations.
The U.S. Treasury Department on June 10 previewed federal guidance for the program that includes private elementary and secondary schools in its definition of eligible expenses.
The federal agency has pledged to issue final guidelines for participating states in September.
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the program proves that the “Trump administration is finally putting American students and families first” by giving them “more affordable education options.
“Randi Weingarten fought and lobbied the Biden administration to prevent students from attending school in-person, inflicting massive damage on their academic, emotional and mental well-being,” Ms. Huston said Wednesday in a statement to The Washington Times. “Randi is the last person who should be weighing in about what is best for American students.”
Patrick Wolf, a University of Arkansas education reform professor, predicted that more Democratic governors will sign up for the program to avoid leaving money on the table, regardless of their rhetoric.
“The unions are telling Democrat governors to scare away education dollars,” Mr. Wolf said in an email. “Every U.S. state will join eventually. The only question is how many of their state education dollars they will gift to other states before they get wise and join in on the free-money party.”
