Starting next year, the program will provide a federal income tax credit up to $1,700 per person for donations to scholarship-granting organizations. The money can be spent on tuition and school fees as well as textbooks, special needs, tutoring, test prep and after-school programs that benefit private- or public-school students.
There’s no good reason for a state not to join since it amounts to free money from the feds and has no impact on state budgets. Students from households earning up to 300% of the regional median income can qualify.
Twenty-nine states so far have opted in, according to Ballotpedia, and most are GOP-leaning states. (Virginia opted in under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin.) Many of those states have already enacted or expanded their school-choice programs. But the federal scholarships are a way for Democratic states dominated by teachers unions to get in on the action and help students languishing in union-run schools.
In Illinois, March primary voters in 30 counties supported a nonbinding ballot question in favor of the state opting into the program. Sixty-four percent said Gov. JB Pritzker should opt in, though he hasn’t so far as he eyes a presidential run and wants union support.
The New York State United Teachers issued a statement Friday that “public dollars belong in public schools. Vouchers—by any name—take money away from neighborhood schools.” The opposite is true. If New York doesn’t opt in, New York donors can still take advantage of the tax credit—but only for donations to outfits in states that have opted in. In other words, New York money would leave the state.