JENNY BETH MARTIN: A Federal School-Choice Breakthrough

For decades, school choice has been a cause largely fought in the states. From Florida’s scholarship programs to Arizona’s education savings accounts, reformers have battled entrenched unions and bureaucracies to give parents more control over their children’s education.

Now, thanks to the Working Families Tax Credit, the cause of educational freedom has achieved a landmark national breakthrough – a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for school choice.

The Educational Choice for Children Act, enacted as part of the broader fiscal and tax package, creates a new federal dollar-for-dollar tax credit worth up to $1,700 per taxpayer for donations to certified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). These nonprofits must, by law, spend at least 90% of their revenue directly on scholarships for children from lower- and middle-income families. The money can be used for tuition, tutoring, textbooks, transportation, or other educational expenses – whatever helps a child learn best. These scholarships are not a government handout. They’re voluntary, private acts of generosity encouraged by the tax code.

That’s the beauty of the program. For the first time, Washington has put the federal government’s thumb on the side of parents and students, not systems and unions. Instead of sending more money to bureaucracies that too often fail, the new law rewards taxpayers who help children access better options.

It’s a small shift in the grand scheme of the federal budget, but a massive shift in principle. As Milton Friedman argued 70 years ago, education funding should follow the student, not the school system. The new dollar-for-dollar tax credit moves America closer to that ideal. For families with children trapped in failing public schools, this can mean the difference between hope and despair.