For most of my career in public education, school choice was treated as a partisan issue.
I served more than two decades as a public school teacher and school leader. During that time, I sat across the table from dozens of families whose children were struggling in the traditional school environment. Sometimes the issue was learning differences. Sometimes it was anxiety, bullying, or a teaching approach that simply didn’t fit how their child learned best.
Parents asked, “What other options do we have?”
Too often, I felt I didn’t have an answer.
Like most educators, I believed deeply in public education. But I also knew the system could not be everything to every child. Families who could afford alternatives sometimes found them. Many others could not.
For years, debates about school choice programs – vouchers, scholarships, or Education Savings Accounts – have largely divided along partisan lines. Many Republican-led states have embraced them. Democratic-led states have largely resisted, arguing that public dollars should remain within public schools. But a new federal program is changing the political dynamics of that debate.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit creates a federal tax credit for individuals who donate to scholarship-granting organizations that, in turn, will help families pay for educational options, including those outside their assigned public schools. States must opt in to participate.
Governors in red states make up the overwhelming majority of the 27 states that have opted in or have said they will opt in. Many of these states have already expanded school choice through ESAs or similar education choice programs.
What happens if governors decide not to opt in? If a state declines to participate, residents can still donate to a scholarship fund and receive the federal tax credit. The difference is that the scholarships generated by those donations would go to students in states that do participate. Taxpayers in one state would help fund educational opportunities for children in another state.
School choice debates have historically focused on ideology. The EFTC reframes the issue as something more practical. Are states willing to allow their residents’ tax incentives to support opportunities only in other states? That shift could move the conversation from red versus blue toward something more purple.
From my perspective as a longtime public school educator, the conversation should ultimately be about families and students.
During my career, I worked with children who thrived in traditional classrooms. But I also worked with many who did not. Families who wanted different options often faced a maze of requirements to access services or placements. In special education, families had to navigate lengthy and sometimes adversarial processes simply to obtain support within a system that was not working for their child. Educators know this reality well. We see the children for whom the system works beautifully – and the ones for whom it does not.
Programs like the EFTC won’t solve every challenge in education. Public schools continue to educate the majority of American children, and they remain a cornerstone of our communities. But expanding educational options acknowledges what so many families experience firsthand: no single model works for every child.
At the same time, the EFTC is an opportunity rather than a threat for public school districts. It is misleading to say public school students will not benefit. Funds can be used to fill enrichment and other gaps, including summer programming, tutoring, transportation, and specialized services for students who continue to enroll in public schools. What has been out of reach for many public school families will now be possible.
When school choice was primarily a state-level initiative, it was easy to categorize it as a red state policy experiment. But a federal tax credit that gives individuals in any state the opportunity to participate and allows governors to decide whether their residents benefit creates a different kind of political pressure.
While we await the release of the EFTC guidelines, state leaders face a decision less about ideology and more about equity.
When families are trying to find the right educational model for their children, the issue isn’t red or blue. It’s about whether we are willing to give every child a choice.
