Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became the first Democrat considered a possible 2028 U.S. presidential candidate to opt in to a Republican school-choice scholarship program, which is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027. “It supports donors to give more money to our schools,” he told the Colorado Sun. “I would be crazy not to.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—all Democrats considered potential 2028 candidates—have not said if they will include their states in the program.
The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department stated in December that the program allows people to donate money to scholarships for elementary- and secondary-school expenses and to claim those donations, up to $1,700, as federal tax credits. Students can only access that money under those terms if the state opted into the program, the federal government said.
A spokeswoman for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who hasn’t said if she will opt the state in, told JNS that the governor “is open to any proposals that will support our students and schools, but given the constantly changing federal funding landscape and the president’s troubling track record, she’ll need to review the program’s guidance and rules, which we have still not received from the Trump administration.”
Pritzker’s office is “reviewing the tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations in the enacted federal tax bill,” a spokesman for the Illinois governor told JNS. “We will evaluate the issue through a lens focused on affordability for working families and what best supports Illinois students, families and public schools.”
And Alex Peterson, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania governor, told JNS that Shapiro is “awaiting federal guidance to address key questions about how this program would work, including which students will be eligible, how this federal initiative will interact with existing programs and more.”
“We look forward to reviewing that guidance,” Peterson said.
To date, 27 states have opted into the program, which is part of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, part of what U.S. President Donald Trump calls the “big beautiful bill,” according to a White House graphic.
“President Trump is lowering the cost of education for American families, but children in your state will not benefit unless your governor takes action,” the White House stated. “While anyone in America can take advantage of this tax credit next year, families cannot receive a scholarship if their governor blocks their state’s participation.”
The U.S. Education and Treasury Departments stated that the “Education Freedom Tax Credit is the largest national expansion of education freedom in history and provides families with more affordable education options.”
“Power belongs in the hands of parents—not Washington bureaucrats whose ill-targeted spending has driven down test scores and promoted woke ideology,” stated Scott Bessent, U.S. treasury secretary. “President Trump has built the most pro-school choice administration in history, because he understands this is the best path for students to grow and flourish.”
Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, told JNS that it’s “the first major federal school choice program, and it’s the largest, so to speak, school choice program ever in the United States.”
“It’s an unlimited amount of potential funding to support parents making the choices they want for their children’s education, whether it’s in private religious schools, private sector schools or, by the way, it also can provide significant resources to families that use the public schools,” he said.
Communities that set up the “scholarship grant organizations” can raise unlimited amounts of money, but they have to do it $1,700 at a time, according to Diament.
“It’s literally free money to the donor,” he said. “This has the potential, in the Jewish community, for organizations to raise many millions of dollars and support pretty much any Jewish family that wants to send their kids to Jewish day school to be able to do that, and also to reduce the tuition burden on those who are already using Jewish day schools.”
‘A winning issue’
Keri Ingraham, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and director of its American Center for Transforming Education, told JNS that the number of people donating to scholarships will multiply “significantly,” since donors will see that they can help children without it costing them. “It’s a wash,” she said.
In the past, critics who have opposed school choice have said that it takes money out of state budgets, but the tax credit doesn’t come from states, she said.
Polis, the Democratic governor, opting into the program shows that “this doesn’t have to be a partisan issue,” according to Ingraham, who said that there is “plenty of time” for other states to follow suit.
“Constituents are going to speak up. Parents, as well as voters, are wanting school choice,” she said. “School choice is a winning issue.”
“The momentum is just going to continue to grow,” Ingraham said.
Diament told JNS that one shouldn’t read too much into which states have yet to opt in, since there’s almost a year left before the program begins. The Treasury Department also has yet to issue regulations and clarify details, he said.
Still, it isn’t surprising that it’s been almost entirely Republican governors who have opted in first.
“They’re very much on board with the concept of school choice. They’re familiar with these programs,” Diament said. “They don’t need them explained, and there’s more education and advocacy that needs to take place and that is taking place in regard to the Democratic governors.”
Diament expects that states that already have a similar program in place at the state level, like Pennsylvania, will opt in.
“It’s not a new or novel idea there, and this will make the program in Pennsylvania even stronger,” he said.
He and coalition partners who are advocating to and educating Democratic governors are “optimistic” that most will opt in, he told JNS.
“It’s free money,” he said. “It’s not like it’s costing these states anything to participate in this program.”
States that don’t opt in also stand to lose money, according to Diament.
“Let’s say, for example, New Jersey does not opt in, but Pennsylvania does,” he said. “People in New Jersey would still rather donate to a scholarship organization in Pennsylvania and get $1,700 off their federal taxes than pay those taxes, so you’re going to have people in New Jersey sending their money across the border into Pennsylvania. So New Jersey is going to sort of lose out on that benefit to their state.”
Under the program, scholarships can be set up to support music and arts programs, athletic programs, after-school tutoring and other programs at public schools.
“If a state does not opt in, they’re leaving money on the table, and they’re giving parents in their state a reason, frankly, to be upset at them,” Diament told JNS.
Diament said that it isn’t yet clear whether, in a state like Virginia, where a Republican governor opted in, the new Democratic governor could reverse that decision. The Treasury Department hasn’t released regulations, although one reading of the law could be that there is no opt-out mechanism, so if a governor already entered the state, the next governor couldn’t necessarily reverse that.
Governors of participating states have to give a list of the eligible scholarships to the federal government.
“It’s possible that a Democratic governor could just decide not to send in the list,” he said. “But that would be kind of unusual.”
Ingraham told JNS that “it’s already been said that Virginia, since they have already opted in, that that is now law, and so, at least for 2027, most people understand that Virginia will still be opted in.”
But until regulations are finalized, “it’s a little bit early here to make a strong statement one way or the other until all of that is official and announced,” she said.
On Monday, the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers stated that Pritzker shouldn’t opt in to the program, which they called “a tax break handout to school-choice billionaires and a backdoor scheme to privatize public education.”
“Here in Illinois, voters were clear, and the General Assembly honored that mandate by overwhelmingly rejecting school vouchers,” they stated. “That is why it is both troubling and confusing that Gov. J.B. Pritzker would even consider opting Illinois into Trump’s federal voucher tax scheme.”
‘Can’t have it both ways’
Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy and government affairs at the California Policy Center, told JNS that “there are a lot of one-off unions that have been in opposition.”
“A lot of it hasn’t to do with the principle or the program itself. A lot of it is reaction to the president of the United States, and they don’t care,” he said. “They’re not reacting to the fiscal issues. They’re not reacting to the school choice issues. They’re reacting to the fact that this was a bill that was pursued and signed by President Trump, and because of that, they’re just going to oppose and be contrarian for that political reason.”
Diament told JNS that teachers’ unions tend to be influential in Democratic Party politics, but “we’ve also heard that some of these very same teachers unions are starting the process of setting up their own scholarship organizations to participate in this program.”
“You can’t have it both ways,” he said.
The OU supported creating 529 accounts, or “tax-advantaged investment accounts for education,” which teachers unions opposed and against which they whipped up Democrat opposition, according to Diament.
“Now, 20, 30 years later, they are widespread. They are popular,” he said. “Nobody talks about undoing 529 accounts, because millions of families have benefited from them, and I think you’re going to see a similar dynamic here.”
Christensen told JNS that one thing he would tell Democratic governors like Newsom of California is that the program could also support public schools.
Why would Newsom want to leave more than $3 billion on the table and let the funds go to states like Florida and Texas, he said.
“This really focuses on the under 300% poverty level, so we’re not talking about giving this money out to the millionaires and billionaires,” he said.
Ingraham told JNS that “now is the time for the people to start thinking about the opportunity that they have to change the trajectory of a child’s life simply by making a contribution that they’re going to receive back in a full credit.”
