Congress’ passage of the first federal school voucher program means every state will have to decide in the coming years whether to participate—including those that already have expansive private school choice programs and others that have resisted the push to set aside public funds for private schools.
Education Week reached out to the governors’ offices in all 50 states, plus the mayor’s office in the District of Columbia, to ask about their plans for opting in to the new program. Most that responded said governors are still reviewing the program before formally deciding, with Republicans more enthusiastic about the prospect. Only one state ruled out participating.
The school choice provision was championed by President Donald Trump, and it passed Congress in early July as part of the major “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that also included tax cuts and cuts to Medicaid and food stamps.
It sets up a private school scholarship program through which individual taxpayers can receive dollar-for-dollar tax credits for donations to organizations that grant the scholarships.
The federal offering follows a few years in which states, particularly those under Republican control, have scaled up private school choice offerings, and it mirrors the most common type of state-level offering: 20 states have tax-credit scholarships, according to an Education Week analysis, though they differ in their generosity and the student populations they target.
How the federal school choice offering works
The legislation, which takes effect in time for taxpayers to claim credits for the 2027 tax year, gives states the option to opt in to the choice provision—potentially teeing up state-level battles over school choice around the country.
Republicans were, as expected, the most enthusiastic about the bill in their responses to EdWeek’s inquiry. In many of the states they lead, the tax-credit scholarship could supplement existing programs that direct public funds to private schools.
Democratic-led states were more tepid. They could be weighing how to take advantage of the bill’s flexibility to use the funds to support public, instead of private, schools, experts say.
Under the new law, individual taxpayers can claim a 100% tax credit for up to $1,700 in donations they make to scholarship-granting organizations that award scholarships so K-12 students can attend private schools.
Students whose families’ income does not exceed 300% of their area’s median gross income—a broad pool of potential recipients—are eligible to receive scholarship funds from scholarship-granting organizations.
The bill, though, doesn’t stipulate how much money students could receive. And the scholarships could cover a wide range of expenses. In addition to tuition at private schools, including religious schools, the scholarships could cover the costs of tutoring, school uniforms, technology, after-school programs, transportation, and services for students with disabilities.
It’s “rather unique” that the funding could support expenses other than just private school tuition, said Casey Cobb, a professor of education policy at the University of Connecticut. But the main emphasis is on supporting families pursuing private school, he said. Data from states that have expanded private school choice offerings in recent years have shown that students already enrolled in private school make up the majority of those taking advantage.
“It’s not necessarily incentivizing or ending up in the hands of students who are in a, let’s say, struggling or under-resourced public school to be used to go to a private school,” Cobb said. “Even in those cases, the funding would assist those families, but it doesn’t nearly cover private school tuition in most cases.”
It’s likely the few red states that don’t have voucher programs will opt in and create new programs, or red states with existing programs will use the federal program to complement their own, said Dick Carpenter, professor emeritus of educational leadership at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.
But it remains to be seen how blue and purple states will engage, he said. Some could opt in, but craft regulations that don’t allow families to use the scholarship funds at religious schools.
“In a blue or purple state, it wouldn’t be at all surprising that they say, ‘OK, we’ll opt in, but we’re going to adopt some regulation that limits how these funds from the SGOs can be used,’ consistent with kind of the political zeitgeist within their own states,” Carpenter said.
Nationally, 30 states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school choice program, according to an Education Week analysis. Of those, 19 states have at least one private school choice program that’s universally accessible to K-12 students in the state or on track to be.
What do states plan to do?
EdWeek reached out to all 50 governors’ offices and the mayor’s office in the District of Columbia. Of the 22 states that responded, 13 were Republican-led.
Many Republican leaders hailed the expansion of school choice, and said it would complement existing programs.
A spokeswoman for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said the state would opt in when the provision became available. Tennessee was among the states that passed legislation this year expanding school choice through an education savings account for which any K-12 student could qualify.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, helmed by a Democratic governor, the Republican-controlled state legislature last week passed the first bill that would opt the state in to the provision. (Gov. Josh Stein’s office did not respond to multiple email requests for comment.)
Three GOP governors who were supportive of the measure lead states where universal school choice programs don’t currently exist—Nevada, South Carolina, and Virginia.
In South Carolina, where the state’s highest court struck down its school choice program for violating the state constitution last year, a spokesperson for Gov. Henry McMaster said the governor “fully backs the school choice tax credit” and “has long supported school choice in South Carolina.”
Democratic state leaders also said they were reviewing the provision, and some said they were examining how the funding could help low-income students or support public schools.
But in New Mexico, Michael Coleman, a spokesperson for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said that the state would not opt into the provision. Coleman said the state had concerns regarding a lack of accountability measures in the legislation and a potential loss of funding for public schools. It could also lead to enrollment declines for public schools, and possibly shut out students with additional needs. Students attending schools with vouchers may not receive a high-quality education, he added.
Other governors were more open to the possibilities.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was “excited by the possibility of unlocking new federal tax credits for donations to help low-income kids achieve,” said Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson.
“He encourages the administration to ensure these tax credits lead to improved student outcomes and maintain maximum flexibility for states who choose to participate in this program,” Wieman continued.
Carter Elliot, a spokesperson for Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, called the whole federal budget bill “devastating” and said the state was still determining how “best to mitigate the negative impacts.”
“The governor is committed to ensuring that every student in Maryland has the best education possible,” Elliot continued. “The Trump administration’s approach on this issue has never been tried before. We are evaluating all of the options to ensure Maryland students have the best opportunities to succeed.”
Education observers are carefully watching two states—Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, considered a Democratic rising star, has split with his party in the past, championing school vouchers. A spokesperson said the administration was “reviewing potential impacts of the new federal school tax credit provision.”
In Illinois, which sunset a tax-credit scholarship program in 2023, Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters last month the state would have to determine a fair use of the funds if it opted in to the federal program, saying Trump was taking away funds from public schools by halting formula grants from going out the door for most of July.
“We’re going to look at whether or not we can implement a program that will be good for all students and all families that have students in school, and not just a program that’s just about private schools—sometimes religious schools, and sometimes schools that would reject having an LGBTQ member as a teacher,” Pritzker said.
2025-08-04 19:54:33
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