Promising Federal School Choice Bill Faces Uncertain Prospects

National education freedom may depend on the budget reconciliation process.

Education choice is booming in popularity across the United States, and the federal government may be ready to join the rush—that is, if everything goes just right.

A growing number of state governments have been getting out of the way of parents who want alternatives to government-run schools for their children. That's meant a bonanza of options including homeschooling, charter schools, private schools, and programs like education savings accounts that make education funds portable so families can use them for the approaches of their choice.

Federal Tax Credits To Fund School Scholarships

The Trump administration's sympathy to school choice creates an opening to expand education freedom to the whole country. The president has ordered the federal bureaucracy to facilitate choice in several important ways. And while its prospects are up in the air, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) now being considered by Congress would offer tax credits for donations to fund scholarships for children who want to attend independent schools.

"We must empower parents with more options, acknowledging they have the final say in what educational setting is best for their children," Rep. Adrian Smith (R–Neb.), a co-sponsor of the legislation, commented upon the introduction of the ECCA in January. "ECCA will benefit public, private, and homeschool students and increase the quality of education in our country."

To that end, the bill would "amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against tax for charitable donations to nonprofit organizations providing education scholarships to qualified elementary and secondary students." Donations would be capped to the greater of $5,000 or 10 percent of the adjusted gross income of an individual taxpayer, or 5 percent of a corporation's taxable income. Students could benefit from scholarships funded by the tax credit if they are eligible to attend a public elementary or secondary school and come from a household "with an income which is not greater than 300 percent of the area median gross income."

There's more to it than that, but the bill would allow taxpayers to divert some of the money they would otherwise pay to the federal government in the form of income taxes to instead be productively used to help kids escape the public schools. Such arrangements are popular in a number of states—my wife and I have contributed to a similar program maintained by Arizona.

The ECCA funds would be capped at $10 billion, with 90 percent distributed to scholarship organizations by the federal government and 10 percent allocated to the states to distribute.

90 Percent of School-Age Kids Could Be Eligible

Writing for EdChoice, Cooper Conway and Colyn Ritter calculate that "90% of the K-12 population across the country would be eligible to participate in ECCA." They add that "if 3% of the eligible K-12 population decided to participate, the volume cap would be reached only if the average scholarship amount was around $6,000." The estimate of how many families might be interested is drawn from state-level programs and rough guesswork, because nothing like this has been attempted before on a national scale in the U.S. If they're in the ballpark, passage of the ECCA could have an enormous impact.

"If ECCA is implemented successfully, millions more students could benefit from a choice program. ECCA might even open the door to educational freedom in states that have historically kept it shut," they add.

A Welcoming Environment for Education Freedom

The ECCA was introduced into Congress in what shows every sign of being a welcoming environment. School choice is wildly popular: The most recent polling from Morning Consult/EdChoice shows support among parents of school-aged children for education savings accounts at 72 percent, for school vouchers at 65 percent, and for charter schools at 67 percent. Thirty percent of parents would choose private schools for their children if they could, 14 percent would pick homeschooling, and 9 percent favor charter schools. That's a strong constituency for a range of options.

Not only are states responding to public sentiment by rapidly passing school choice programs, with education savings accounts probably the most flexible option and the preferred approach in recent years, but the Trump administration encourages choice.

"It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children," according to an executive order signed January 28 by President Donald Trump. That order directed the federal bureaucracy to clear the way for school choice by including "education freedom as a priority in discretionary grant programs" and by letting the children of military families and those eligible for Bureau of Indian Education schools use funds designated for their education in schools "of their choice, including private, faith-based, or public charter schools."

Sure enough, Nancy Guan of NPR affiliate WUSF reported rather sniffily this week that "lawmakers and school choice advocates gathered in Tampa on Tuesday to promote a federal bill that would create the first nationwide school voucher program." In a sign that the legislation is seen as a threat by partisans of state-dominated schools, the story prominently featured quotes from naysayers complaining that the ECCA will deprive the federal government of money.

We—and families trying to choose better education for their children—should be so lucky. In fact, the ECCA's prospects are uncertain.

Tricky Path to Passage

While observing that "ECCA is probably the best piece of federal choice legislation we've seen," EdChoice's Michael Q. McShane warns that because of the Senate filibuster, "given the makeup of the Senate, it is unlikely that major pieces of legislation will be able to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to pass."

That means, he believes, that the school choice bill's best chance of becoming law lies in being passed by a simple majority through the budget reconciliation process, which should begin at the end of April. But senators can block provisions they believe stray too far from the budgetary purpose of the process. That's not a barrier to sneaking in legislation that most lawmakers don't care about. But hotly contested issues like school choice could draw opposition—at least to elements of the ECCA.

School choice advocates "have to ready ourselves for a possible future wherein parts of ECCA are passed and others are not," adds McShane.

It's good to live at a time when education options are expanding, and many state and local governments are getting out of the way of families seeking freedom. But we may have to wait a while for the feds to join the party.