Democrats can regain the educational (and moral) high ground with this federal program.
The latest Nation’s Report Card should be a national wake-up call.
Students at every grade level are slipping. Fourth graders struggle with basic reading. Eighth-grade science scores have declined. Twelfth graders are performing at generational lows in both reading and math. The cracks in our education system are forming early and widening across K-12.
This isn’t a post-2020 dip. The warning signs have been flashing for more than a decade. Since the early 2010s, student achievement has stagnated and then declined, especially for those furthest from opportunity. It’s what education writer Tim Daly calls an “education depression”: a prolonged, structural failure to prepare young people for what lies ahead.
At the same time, the crisis of lost instructional time is deepening. Students don’t need just better schools. They need more time on task: more learning hours, more individualized tutoring, more chances to catch up. During the pandemic, states used federal relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act to expand direct student supports. But those dollars have dried up. Unless states find new ways to sustain them, millions of students will be left even further behind.
One solution already exists: The new federal tax credit scholarship program, passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, allows taxpayers to claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, or SGOs. These SGOs can fund a range of services already embraced by blue-state leaders, such as tutoring, transportation, special education services and learning technology. For both current governors and gubernatorial candidates, it’s a chance to show voters that they’re willing to do what it takes to deliver for students and families, no matter where the ideas originate.
By opting in, a governor unlocks these resources for students in their state. Some Democratic leaders have hesitated, however, worried that the program could be seen as undermining public schools, since private scholarships are also eligible. But that misses the point.
Opting in doesn’t take a single dollar from state education budgets. It simply opens the door to new, private donations, at no cost to taxpayers, that can support students in public and nonpublic settings alike.
That’s why opting in isn’t just defensible, it’s a no-brainer.
Governors won’t control the SGOs directly, but they can shape their impact by promoting transparency and accountability, spotlighting those organizations aligned with their values, and ensuring that the students with the greatest needs are prioritized. The federal program, in essence, can help rebuild the supports that expired with ARPA.
The potential scale is significant. According to a recent analysis by Education Reform Now, even with just 30 percent taxpayer participation, the federal tax credit scholarship program could generate $3.1 billion in California, nearly $986 million in Illinois, and nearly $86 million in Rhode Island each year — funds that could expand tutoring, special services and learning time without reducing state education budgets by a penny.
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I’m not impressed. @arneduncan is now wringing his hands over our “education depression” and lost instructional time? Where was the concern about “student time on task” when he was pushing parents to boycott schools to “fight for stricter gun laws?”
theatlantic.com/education/arch…