How School Choice Went from Conservative Cause to Federal Policy

For decades, a coalition of educators and mostly Republican lawmakers in the US have pushed for the use of public funding to subsidize private education options. That advocacy has resulted in a multitude of state-level “school choice” programs that help parents cover private education costs. The number of children enrolled in these programs more than doubled between 2019 and 2024.

In July, President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress enacted the first-ever federal school choice program. When the program goes into effect in the 2027 tax year, it will offer awards to pay for private education expenses in as many states as opt in to the system. Funding will come from individual taxpayers, who will receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donating as much as $1,700 of their tax bill to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations. The program is expected to divert billions of dollars in US tax revenue toward private schools. Here’s what you need to know.