President Donald Trump spoke in favor of education choice during his campaign, and now that he’s in office, Politico reports a national tax-credit scholarship program may be in the works:
The Trump administration is considering a first-of-its-kind federal tax credit scholarship program that would channel billions of dollars to working class families to enable their children to attend private schools, including religious schools. The program could be capped at a level as high as $20 billion, sources say. It is considered a more politically palatable option than asking Congress to find or reallocate money to fulfill Trump’s $20 billion campaign promise to expand charter and private school offerings.
A federal tax-credit scholarship program is “the only way President Trump can effectively bring school choice to families in the blue states that voted for him in 2016 and others that might in the future,” writes Thomas Carroll at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and the Trump administration has its work cut out for it. “The proposal already has critics on both sides of the aisle,” Politico reports.
SOURCE: Politico
IN THIS ISSUE:
- OHIO: An Ohio lawmaker wants the state to adopt education savings accounts (ESAs) and enable parents to save leftover money for college tuition.
- OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma’s Senate Committee on Education OKs ESA legislation, which will go to the Senate floor for a full vote.
- FLORIDA: A growing number of Florida children in poverty are attending private schools thanks to the state’s school choice program.
- MONTANA: A bill to establish charter schools in Montana has uncertain support across the aisle.
Common Core and Curriculum Watch
- KENTUCKY: Kentucky is reportedly repealing Common Core, but the legislation to do so is vague and inadequate, reports the Bluegrass Institute.
- WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia is going to test students less and is looking to adopt a new set of state standards.
- DATA MINING: Alabamans are alarmed by two bills moving through the legislature they fear will invade family privacy in pursuit of data, Truth in American Education reports.
- ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: Taxpayers are paying for non-citizens’ “free” educations.
- TINY HOMES: Colorado teachers struggling to find affordable housing could be provided tiny homes.
- NEVADA: The Nevada legislature is debating what time the school day should start.
- DeVOS: The new Secretary of Education says it would be “fine” if pphttp://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-02-17/betsy-devos-id-be-fine-if-we-could-ditch-the-education-department”>Congress eliminated the Department of Education.
Thank you for reading! If you need a quicker fix of news about school choice, you can find daily updates online at https://heartland.org/topics/education.
Teresa Mull is a policy advisor for education and an editor at The Heartland Institute.
