From the moment our children are born, parents are faced with a constant stream of decisions — how to feed them, what sort of childcare (daycare, nanny or stay-at-home), curfews, chores — and the list only grows from there.
So, it should be no surprise that, when it comes to education, parents across America are demanding the same.
That’s according to two new polls that found that nearly two-thirds of voters support a new program that would give parents more choices for educating their children. The Federal Scholarship Program, as it is known, helps parents pay for schooling expenses, including tuition, after-school programs, tutoring, special needs services, and textbooks.
Under this program, which was adopted earlier this year, taxpayers can direct a portion of their tax dollars to a Scholarship Granting Organization of their choice. Each taxpayer can donate up to $1,700 to an SGO and reduce their federal tax bill, dollar-for-dollar. The organization then awards scholarships to income-eligible students, whether they attend a public school, charter school, faith-based school, or otherwise. This opens the door for more children nationwide to access the educational offerings that fit their needs.
There is one critical caveat, however: Each state must opt-in before families in their state can get scholarships.
Although many states are already making strides towards participating, some are hesitating. This hesitation is not only unnecessary but also puts at risk a valuable opportunity for families to be able to choose the education best for their children, and the state overall.
First, it’s critical for states to understand that this program would bolster educational opportunities for all students — including both public and non-public schools. Not only does this program leave existing federal public-school funding untouched but will also bring in billions of dollars in additional K-12 federal education spending. When operating together, nonpublic and public schools allow our education system — and our children — to thrive.
Perhaps most importantly, however, is that our families want this. Beyond the polling, there are already 22 states with similar tax credit scholarship programs. The parents, families, and voters in these states have already made a choice. Many have already relocated to states with scholarships programs in order to access these opportunities, posing a serious threat for states that remain on the sidelines.
Parents already often choose where they live based on where their children go to school, with public school parents long seeking out neighborhoods with the best schools and trying to live as close as possible. Now imagine two neighboring states — one with this program and one without. For parents seeking educational options for their children, crossing state lines might be their best choice — changing their communities’ landscapes, and taking their tax dollars with them.
This is especially true for parents of children in faith-based non-public schools who feel they don’t really have a choice between public and nonpublic school education and must educate their children in a religious setting. These parents are already willing to pay tens of thousands of after-tax dollars, making sacrifices and altering their lifestyles in order to afford tuition. But if they can find a way to save money on these costs, that will seriously affect where they choose to live.
In fact, a recent Teach Coalition study looking specifically at Jewish day school enrollment in New York found that over two decades, young families have consistently been leaving New York for states with lower cost of living and tuition. This includes Florida, the nation’s leader in school choice, where there has been substantial Jewish day school enrollment growth since 2016 when the state began a series of major expansion to its state-funded scholarship programs.
By turning their demands into action, the message here is clear — parents want the power to choose their child’s education, with options that serve all our families and support all children. Right now, states have that opportunity — and at no cost to their current budgets. Implementing the federal scholarship program will give more parents what the most important choice in parenting may be: their child’s education.
Now the choice is in the states’ hands — listen to our parents, or risk losing them forever.
Sydney Altfield is the national director for Teach Coalition, a project of the Orthodox Union dedicated to advocating for government funding and resources for nonpublic schools.
