Most headlines about Congress’s new tax bill have focused on what it didn’t do for working families: a modest child tax credit expansion, business-friendly R&D write-offs, and controversial Medicaid cuts that sparked bipartisan concern.
But buried in the same legislation is one of the most consequential education reforms in years – a provision widely misunderstood as a giveaway to private schools, when in fact it offers a new model for empowering families in every kind of educational setting.
Modeled on the previously standalone Education Choice for Children Act, the new federal tax credit allows individuals to donate to state-approved Scholarship Granting Organizations and receive a credit in return. Those SGOs provide scholarships to low- and middle-income students – up to 300% of area median income – who can use the funds for a wide range of educational expenses. That includes not only private school tuition but also tutoring, books, online classes, enrichment programs, dual enrollment, and more.
That matters profoundly. For decades, affluent families have quietly exercised their own form of educational choice, not by switching schools, but by supplementing public education with tutoring, enrichment, and support services. Lower-income families, regardless of their commitment or creativity, have been excluded from this parallel system. This bill isn’t just about vouchers. It’s a first-of-its-kind federal effort to close the “enrichment gap.”
I’ve seen firsthand how powerful this kind of funding can be when directed toward real families. In 2023, Virginia launched the $68 million Learning Acceleration Grant to provide direct funding for tutoring and enrichment to public school families following the pandemic. Our organization, Outschool.org, helped over 12,500 families access the program. Parents used the funds to purchase reading interventions for children with dyslexia, math tutoring to help them catch up after COVID-19 disruptions, and language support for newly arrived immigrants. One parent shared, “These grants have saved my children from academic negligence! Tutoring and technology have helped me in keeping them focused and confident about their work.”
The VLAG program didn’t fund private school tuition. Most participating families were enrolled in public schools. But they got something their wealthier peers had long taken for granted: the power to choose supports tailored to their child’s needs.
That same opportunity could now be available across the country – if states choose to participate. Under the final version of the law, states must opt in and identify eligible SGOs for residents to access the federal credit. It’s a more limited structure than initially proposed, but the vision remains intact: public-private partnerships that allow low-income families to personalize their child’s education. And the states that seize this opportunity could see the most significant gains.
It’s already happening in places like Colorado, where ReSchool has launched a privately funded scholarship program to help low-income families afford summer learning and after-school programs. The only criteria for the use of funds were that they enable children to pursue their passions, expand their relationships, and develop new skills. Every day expenditures included science kits, swim lessons, and tutoring. ReSchool didn’t dictate which programs were best – it simply asked families what their kids needed, then gave them the means to pursue it.
For donors and philanthropists, ECCA unlocks a new way to give. Until now, those looking to expand educational opportunities have often been limited to funding institutional alternatives – charter networks, elite nonprofits like SEO, or large national programs. With ECCA, they can give to families directly, fueling flexible, student-driven learning that’s long been out of reach for most. To dismiss this as a tax shelter ignores the fact that American education has always relied on private giving to support those left behind. Now, that giving can go straight to the student.
In states with programs like these, critics have often pointed to low participation rates as evidence that there’s little demand. But our experience at Outschool.org tells a different story. As the largest ESA navigator in the country, we’ve seen firsthand what happens when access to choice is paired with fundamental tools and support, especially for families who’ve never before had the power to choose where or how their child learns.
When families are guided through the process, when resources are made visible and navigable, demand doesn’t just emerge – it explodes. Parents who once felt shut out of the system find themselves able to act on their child’s needs and aspirations. Participation rises. Outcomes improve. And most importantly, the benefits of these programs begin to reach the families they were designed for, not just the ones best positioned to take advantage.
To be sure, any program of this scale risks being uneven in its reach. Often, it’s the better-resourced families – those with time, connections, or fluency in navigating bureaucracy – who are first to benefit. That’s not a reason to reject the policy; it’s a reason to focus on how it’s implemented. If we want ECCA to fulfill its promise, then states must not only opt in but also commit to outreach, navigation, and equity of access because access alone isn’t enough.
That’s the real risk today – not that ECCA does too much, but that states may overlook what it could do at all. If viewed narrowly as a school choice bill, it may be cast aside for political reasons. However, if embraced as a broader educational choice opportunity, states could utilize ECCA to help students in public schools access tutoring, enrichment, and supplemental support, just as families in Virginia, Colorado, Ohio, and Kansas already do.
The ECCA opens the door. Now it’s up to states to walk through it – and up to all of us to ensure they do.
