ICYMI: Blue State Taxpayers Are Funding Red State Scholarships — And Their Governors Don’t Care

“Parents in the holdout states should ask their governors one question: Why are you turning down free scholarships for my child?”

Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, Club for Growth President David McIntosh published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner calling out Democratic governors who have refused to opt into President Trump’s federal school freedom program. The program establishes a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit up to $1,700 per filer and $3,400 for joint filers to fund scholarships, tutoring programs, afterschool care, and other key resources for students in participating states. If a governor does not opt into the program, their taxpayers can still receive the tax credit by funding scholarships in states that have joined.

Click here to read the full piece from David McIntosh in the Washington Examiner.

FULL TEXT:

Are Democratic governors playing politics with education? Of course they are. What else explains a governor refusing to join a program that costs his state nothing, gives his students free scholarships, and pulls new money into the state for tutoring, textbooks, and special-needs services?

On Thursday, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued proposed regulations for the first national school freedom program. It is a federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations, signed into law by President Donald Trump and championed for years by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Twenty states, nearly all led by Democrats, have not opted in. Their governors like federal involvement in education only when it arrives with strings attached and a one-size-fits-all mandate from Washington. Offer them a federal tax credit program that empowers parents instead of bureaucrats, and they say no.

But children in those states deserve better than political posturing. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 45% of high school seniors scored below basic in math and 32% below basic in reading. Twelfth-grade reading hit the lowest average in the exam’s history. A mother whose third-grader reads below grade level has heard all of this before. She doesn’t need statistics. She needs help. That is where the new program comes in.

Starting in 2027, any taxpayer can claim a dollar-for-dollar credit of up to $1,700 for contributions to a qualified scholarship organization in any participating state, regardless of where the donor lives. Married couples filing jointly can claim $3,400. The Treasury Department estimates that by 2030, more than 11 million taxpayers could give nearly $26 billion a year, funding as many as 2.2 million scholarships annually. Under the proposed rules and safe harbors, about 96% of children in participating states would be eligible.

The Club for Growth submitted comments to the Treasury Department urging the regulations to recognize that the credit belongs to each individual taxpayer, with no marriage penalty. Thousands of our members filed comments in support. We are glad the Treasury Department agreed. A married couple who each give $1,700 can claim the full $3,400 credit on their joint return. Congress wrote no marriage penalty into this law, and regulators didn’t invent one.

Critics call this a voucher scheme to drain public schools. False. The program works even if a child never leaves the public school down the street. The Treasury Department’s own summary of qualified expenses includes academic tutoring, special-needs services, books, supplies, and computers. A public school parent can use a scholarship to hire an outside reading tutor or cover special needs services. The child doesn’t change schools. The district doesn’t lose a dollar. The only thing that changes is who decides how the help is delivered.

Thirty states have already opted in. Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) got there first among Democrats. He called participation a “no-brainer” and said Colorado should go after donors in states that decline. Refusing the program ensures that money leaves the state. A donor in Chicago or Los Angeles can direct a $1,700 gift to a scholarship organization in Denver or Dallas, and the credit is just as good. Every year a governor stalls is a year the state’s taxpayers fund other states’ children.

The holdouts are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The governors of Arizona and Wisconsin vetoed opt-in bills. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) says she plans to opt in but hasn’t, and teachers unions are pressing her to reject it.

There is no principled objection here. The program is voluntary. It imposes no curriculum, no testing regime, no mandate on any district. It asks a governor to do one thing: certify the nonprofit organizations in the state that meet the federal criteria so that its own citizens can benefit.

Parents in the holdout states should ask their governors one question: Why are you turning down free scholarships for my child? Governors who refuse should expect that question at every town hall and campaign stop until they relent. A state that wants in for 2027 has until Jan. 1 to opt in. The clock is running. Sign the form.