by Larry Sand
In mid-May, the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee passed a major GOP tax bill, which contains the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), and it now heads to the House floor.
ECCA would provide financial assistance to families in all 50 states that have incomes less than three times their “area’s median income.” Eligible parents could use the funds for a wide range of education-related expenses, including private and parochial school tuition, books and other instructional materials, online classes, private tutoring, and educational therapies for students with disabilities provided by a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider. Homeschooling parents would also be covered. Hence, parents can use the scholarships to provide their children with an education that they believe best suits their needs.
As worded now, the tax credit allowed to any taxpayer for any year shall not exceed an amount equal to “the greater of 10% of the adjusted gross income of the taxpayer for the taxable year or $5,000.” In a system of education tax credits, taxpayers receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). Therefore, if a taxpayer owes $4,000 in taxes, they can allocate a portion of it to an SGO, with the remaining amount going to the government. The taxpayer is out $4,000 either way, so no tax savings are involved.
The bill also stipulates that a student is eligible if they are part of a household with an income not exceeding 300% of the area median gross income.
Currently, there are 76 private school choice programs in 35 states, as well as in Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. In total, 45% of the nation’s 49.6 million students are eligible to participate in a private school choice program, and over 1.2 million students partake in one. Eighteen of those states already have tax credit scholarship programs, with 217,000 participants, according to EdChoice. However, that number would increase significantly if the federal tax credit bill were to become law.
In a statement, the chair of America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education Opportunity, Erika Donalds, said, “This legislation is a game-changer for educational opportunity and a historic step toward universal school choice, more than doubling the number of students benefiting from private school choice programs in just one year.” Therefore, the current 1.2 million students could increase to 2.4 million.
Needless to say, many educational establishmentarians are in a world-class snit over the possibility of the bill’s passage. Denise Forte, president and CEO of nonprofit EdTrust, erroneously claims, “Voucher schemes don’t improve student outcomes—they undermine opportunities for students, especially those from rural communities, students with disabilities, and students of color,” absurdly adding, “It’s nothing short of theft.”
The Brookings Institution, a (non-thoughtful) think tank, maintains, “While framed as education policy, the initiative also functions as a tax policy that disproportionately benefits wealthy, urban households with high incomes and stock investments.”
(Memo to Brookings: If students are part of a household with an income exceeding 300% of the area median gross income, they are not eligible. Hence, the wealthy will not benefit from the program.)
Looking at the big picture, taxpayers filed 153.8 million tax returns in 2022, reporting earnings of nearly $14.8 trillion in adjusted gross income, and paid $2.1 trillion in individual income taxes. Therefore, the tax credit bill’s tweaks won’t make a significant difference in the tax base.
Other critics of the bill worry that the measure would use taxpayer money to fund “unregulated private schools.”
Left unsaid by that cohort is that many “regulated” government schools are failing at their mission. The 2024 NAEP revealed that, nationally, the percentage of public school 4th graders scoring “below basic” on the reading test was the largest in 20 years, at 40%. Some 33% of 8th graders scored “below basic” on the exam—a record low.
On June 12, school choice advocates joined Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) at a press event on Capitol Hill, where they addressed the bill.
Sen. Cruz stated, “We’re here gathered today standing united in support of the children of America. School choice, I have long believed, is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Every single child in America deserves the right to have access to an excellent education. And that is regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of wealth, regardless of zip-code.”
Cruz added, “This puts parents in the driver’s seat. The person who knows best what is right for your child is a mom and a dad. This empowers parents to make the best choices.”
Rep. Owens (R-UT) said, “The big, beautiful bill is all about one thing, my friends, to build a more perfect union. And that more perfect union begins with us investing in our children. Our return investment will be, very simply, these kids that run circles around us and parents and grandparents, and you should be so proud that we’re part of that process.”
It’s important to note that school choice is a voter priority and is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. The latest polling numbers show that 86.2% of Republicans favor parental choice, while 77.2% of Democrats do.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, sums it all up perfectly. “For years, I’ve advocated for school choice with my Educational Choice for Children Act. I am pleased to see it included in the big, beautiful bill. Expanding President Trump’s tax cuts is about preserving the American Dream. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their child makes the dream possible.”
For the sake of American families and the country’s future, let’s get this done!
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Larry Sand, a retired 28-year classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network—a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
The post Commentary: Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Legislation Is Advancing first appeared on The Arizona Sun Times.