(The Center Square) – A new report indicates demand for school choice in Pennsylvania is higher than it’s ever been since its inception 25 years ago.
The commonwealth was at the forefront of school choice when it adopted the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Scholarship, and later its supplemental Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, in 2001.
Since then, it’s provided tuition support to more than 1 million lower-income students, an increase of 33% over the last decade. Most of those families earn between $22,000 and $44,000 below the state’s median income of $100,557. Six counties receive the majority of the financial aid: Philadelphia, Allegheny, Delaware, Chester, Bucks and Lancaster.
“Even now, 25 years later, the program’s popularity continues to grow,” said Rachel Langan, senior policy analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation. “Despite doubling the amount of scholarships awarded over the last 10 years, nearly 70,000 students remain stuck on waiting lists.”
The foundation, a conservative nonprofit, has lobbied for school choice programs in Pennsylvania over the last two decades, noting its role in helping boost tax credits available through the programs by $275 million over the last two years.
The programs work through donations, tax credits and refunds. Individuals and businesses give money to scholarship organizations, which then share those funds with private schools statewide. In return, the donors receive refunds or credits on their state tax returns.
In 2026, the programs will refund up to $575 million in donations, though a cap on how much money can be received means 40% of students who apply for financial aid are rejected.
According to the foundation, data mined from its public records requests show that the number of private schools designated as economically disadvantaged – and therefore eligible for tuition aid up to $4,000 – increased 69% between 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, spreading from 29 counties to 42 in the same time period.
That means private schools primarily serving low-income families qualify for the extra support, busting the myth that the tax credits help the “white and wealthy,” according to the foundation. Of the annual 101,751 scholarship recipients, 4 in 10 identify as non-white, which is on par with public school enrollment.
But for many critics, particularly legislative Democrats, that money would be better spent on the state’s 1.6 million public school students. Recent state data shows nearly 7 in 10 Pennsylvania eighth-graders can’t read on grade level.
The sobering statistics come amid the state’s third year of trying to comply with a court-ordered mandate to equalize funding across all 500 school districts, lest the state remain in violation of its constitution. Since 2023, more than $1.5 billion more has been allocated to public schools, including a special appropriation for those deemed academically and economically disadvantaged.
Democrats, buoyed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, say it will take time and additional funding to make gains on academic achievement. In the meantime, they want to stay the course.
Shapiro, however, has not completely shunned school choice. He’s signed budgets that have increased funding for the tax credits by nearly half and hasn’t completely shut the door on opting into the federal version of the program, which has been adopted in 30 other states.
At the same time, however, he’s turned his back on Republican-authored expansions of the programs, including one that would cover tuition up to $8,000 for low-income students.
The concept, in general, has grown more bipartisan over the years, however.
A poll from April 2025 suggests that support for school choice doesn’t hinge on any political affiliation, age, ethnicity, region or 2024 presidential vote.
Rather, across all demographics, as many as two-thirds of respondents support the concept of educational scholarships that offer state funding directly to families to fund private school tuition.
Support for the policy reached as high as 56% among Democrats and Kamala Harris voters – a significant figure given the party’s historical opposition to it.
Ragnar Research Partners interviewed 800 likely voters in person between March 15 and 17, 2025. The results showed 84% of Republicans, 79% of independents and 56% of Democrats supported the idea.
Support among Black and Hispanic voters was 82% and 80%, respectively. Among white voters, favorability dropped to 70%. Meanwhile, three out of four younger voters under age 44 expressed support for school choice, compared to 72% for those under 64 and 65.5% for those 65 and older.
At least two-thirds of voters in every region of the state also approve of the concept, with the highest rates measured in urbanized communities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton and Harrisburg.
Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children Growth Fund, lamented that despite the state’s early adoption of school choice tax credits two decades ago, the commonwealth has fallen far behind its neighbors.
“These polling results are crystal clear – Pennsylvania voters want expanded school choice,” he said at the time. “Educational freedom for families continues to receive overwhelming support across political, geographic and demographic categories.”
The foundation said in its report that its polling yields similar results. Langan said its research concludes that Pennsylvania is “in desperate need” of more options.
“The enduring popularity of the EITC program shows school choice works. Pennsylvania can lead the nation by prioritizing EITC and expanding educational opportunity for all Pennsylvania families by opting in to the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit,” she said.
