Mississippi will soon be able to get a break on their taxes for contributing to private-school scholarships, thanks to a federal program.

Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that he had opted the state into the program. It’s a win for school-choice proponents, as Mississippi lawmakers continue to debate the policy on the state level.

School choice — policies aimed at giving families more educational options, often funding those choices with public money —  is the top issue of the current legislative session, led by House Speaker Jason White. Both chambers have passed school-choice bills, but Senate leaders have firmly taken a stance against programs that send public dollars to private schools, as the federal tax-credit program does.

School-choice proponents say the policies give parents more control over their children’s education. Opponents argue that they siphon money away from the public education system, which is required to serve every child.

“Mississippi believes that parents – not government – know what’s best for their children’s education,” Reeves said in his announcement.

The federal tax-credit program, created by President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” allows Mississippians to contribute up to $1,700 to an organization that awards scholarships to private-school students, starting in federal tax year 2027. Donors will be given a break on their taxes equal to the amount they contribute — that’s called a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, and it’s about three times as much as people receive from donating to a children’s hospital or other causes.

To qualify for these scholarships, one can earn up to 300% of the area’s median income. That’s six-figures in Mississippi, or about $150,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Research shows a majority of private-school vouchers across the country go to students who could already afford and were attending private schools.

In the coming months, Reeves’ office will designate eligible scholarship-granting organizations — groups that will disburse these vouchers, whose sole purpose must be doing so — to participate in the program.

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Gov. Jared Polis plans to opt Colorado into a federal tax-credit scholarship program, opening the door to private school choice in a Democratic state where lawmakers and voters have rejected previous proposals.

Conservatives, children’s advocates, and supporters of school choice praised the decision for its possibility to raise money for all students’ education. Meanwhile, a coalition of public school advocates sent a letter to Polis in December asking him to reconsider.

The voucher-like program, part of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, has the potential to generate billions of dollars for private school tuition and other educational expenses, such as tutoring, but governors have to decide whether to participate.

Polis appears to be the . North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein did so in August under pressure from state Republican lawmakers who have dramatically expanded the state’s voucher system. Polis also is the second governor to opt in from a state where voters rejected a school choice measure at the ballot. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, , setting the stage for Nebraska’s first private school choice program after voters there overturned voucher legislation in 2024.

School choice supporters had hoped the federal program would expand educational opportunities in states where politics made it difficult or impossible to pass voucher legislation. Polis, meanwhile, said he saw other potential benefits.

Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman said in a Dec. 5 statement that the governor would not have voted for the budget bill, but he is not interested in leaving hundreds of millions in federal money on the table that could provide additional funding for after-school programming, summer school, scholarships, and academic tutoring.

“This tax credit creates an immense opportunity for Coloradans to support students in our state, but only if we opt in,” she said. “He welcomes the opportunity to work with school districts and other education stakeholders to help ensure this credit can benefit the greatest number of students across our state with evidence-based programs that supplement school days. He encourages the administration to ensure these tax credits lead to improved student outcomes.”

The tax-credit program allows taxpayers to reduce their tax liability if they donate to eligible scholarship-granting organizations, which then pay for students’ educational expenses.

The law allows donations to benefit public and private school students alike, but how feasible it might be to harness donations for public school students will depend in part on rules that the Treasury Department has yet to issue.

that Polis plans to opt Colorado into the program. He expressed openness to the idea last summer and earlier in his career. Polis said in a statement that he doesn’t believe vouchers are a good use of public funds and that this tax credit is not a voucher.

States officially opt in by presenting a list of eligible scholarship-granting organizations to the Treasury Department, a step that must wait until rules are finalized next year.

Polis’ decision doesn’t necessarily mean Colorado will participate in the tax-credit program over the long term. Polis is term-limited, and the winner of the governor’s race next year could make a different decision.

Supporters of Polis’ decision agreed that the tax credits present an opportunity for the state to raise millions for students, including to support them in out-of-school opportunities and to pay for transportation and school supplies. Advocates say the tax-credit scholarship program helps students in underperforming schools attend other school options.

Tony Lewis, executive director of the Donnell-Kay Foundation, which works on education policy, said he hopes the tax credit rules allow scholarship-granting organizations the ability to pay for a wide range of activities, such as sports, after-school programs, theater classes, and summer camps. (The Donnell-Kay Foundation also has provided funding to Chalkbeat. Read more about our supporters and our ethics policy .)

“If we pass up this opportunity to opt in now, we close any possibility of doing good work for public school kids,” he said. “Why not keep your options open?”

The Colorado Children’s Campaign, an advocacy organization, also expressed optimism about the potential to benefit public school students.

And Ready Colorado Executive Director Brenda Dickhoner said the decision means more opportunities for kids, especially those wanting to participate in enrichment programs. The conservative organization focuses on school choice and education reform.

“It’s a way for us to solve this problem of closing this opportunity gap, and making it more equitable for kids to access after school enrichment, whether it’s band or sports or any type of tutoring,” she said in an interview.

The program doesn’t require state investment. Instead, it allows states to decide whether taxpayers can donate funds to scholarship-granting organizations and receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit. Individual taxpayers can claim a credit of up to $1,700 starting in 2027.

Those organizations would give the money to parents to pay for education expenses, such as a students’ private school tuition, books, transportation, and uniforms. Families earning up to 300% of area median income would qualify. That threshold includes well-off families in expensive urban areas but might exclude middle-class families in some rural communities.

, which would have enshrined the right to school choice in the state’s Constitution. In 2021, they .

Polis reiterated his decision to opt in despite pleas from a that delivered a letter to Polis saying the state should not participate.

The letter said the state should focus on providing more resources to schools and respect voters’ wishes to keep vouchers out of the state.

The group added that the state can and must do better when it comes to public education. “But publicly funded school vouchers are not the way to achieve this,” the letter says.

The letter says studies have shown vouchers provide mixed results in improving student achievement. It also says the program lacks public accountability and allows discrimination against children with disabilities or who identify as LGBTQ+.

“Unlike the private or religious schools that vouchers support, our public schools are obligated to teach all students, holding fast to the American ideal of public education as a springboard to success and as necessary to a well-functioning democracy,” the letter says.

The list of organizations calling on Polis to reject the plan include the Colorado Education Association, Colorado Fiscal Institute, Colorado PTA, Movimiento Poder, and The Bell Policy Center.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat on Dec. 5, 2025. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Late Sunday night, the House Budget Committee passed a major GOP tax bill after four hard-line Republicans, who had previously stood in opposition, changed their vote to “present,” according to reporting from . The massive bill, which contains the Educational Choice for Children Act, now heads to the House floor where a slim GOP majority means leadership can afford to lose the votes of only two Republican lawmakers to move the measure forward to the Senate.

Updated, May 16

Four hard-line House Republicans joined all Democrats Friday in killing the GOP tax bill, which contained the Educational Choice for Children Act, according to The lawmakers argued as it stands, the tax cuts would only add to the nation’s $36 trillion debt and said they’d need to see larger spending cuts to vote in favor. The 16-21 Budget Committee vote rejecting the complicates Speaker Mike Johnson’s goal of approving the measure before Memorial Day.

Clarification appended

A historic bill creating a first-of-its-kind, nationwide tax credit scholarship program to expand private school choice is part of a sweeping Republican tax bill approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. 

“It is a true game changer that we think would really supercharge school choice across the country,” said John Schilling, senior advisor for the American Federation for Children, a conservative school choice advocacy group.

The would provide money to families in all 50 states making less than three times their area’s median income. The recipients, including families who homeschool, could spend it on a large range of education-related expenses, including private and parochial school tuition, books and other instructional material, online classes, private tutoring, fees for dual enrollment and educational therapies. 

The measure would create $5 billion in annual tax credits starting next year for individuals who donate cash or stocks to nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organizations, which have discretion over handing out the funds. Donors would receive an 1:1 return, allowing them to reduce their taxable income by $1 for every dollar donated, up to $5,000 or 10% of their adjusted gross income.

Currently, 1.2 million students are being served by 76 private school choice programs enacted in 34 states, according to Patrick Wolf, graduate director of the at the University of Arkansas. Those programs include vouchers, which give parents public money directly for private school tuition, and Education Savings Accounts, which set aside public money for a range of educational expenses. Twenty-one of those states already have tax credit scholarship programs, according to . That number might be about to radically change. 

“If the ECCA is enacted and the maximum amount of tax credits … are claimed through individual donations, basically the number of students being supported by private school choice programs across the country would double in one year,” Wolf told ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ. “A 100% increase in a single year in the number of people being served by private school choice programs. That’s a big deal.”

Pro-choice advocates and conservative leaders celebrated the bill’s advancement, arguing it will give unprecedented school choice access to families across the country who have historically been locked out, including in Democratic-controlled states where lawmakers generally oppose private school choice. Children, they say, will finally have the opportunity to be matched with the learning environment and tools that suit them best, largely regardless of how much money their parents make. And the tax incentives will allow individuals to fund it.

Meanwhile, critics expressed serious concern, claiming the far-reaching measure would essentially use taxpayer money to fund largely unregulated private schools primed for discrimination and that loopholes in the bill allow for a system akin to a tax shelter. They also argue wealthier individuals in urban areas — both those donating and those receiving funds — stand to benefit the most, while those in underserved rural areas could be harmed. 

And, they say, the $5 billion in taxes the government will lose out on has to come from somewhere and will likely drain resources from public schools, which serve the majority of U.S. students.

“This would be a backdoor way of creating what is essentially a very large, nationwide private school voucher program, and it would be created by sneaking it into this big budget reconciliation bill,” said Jon Valant, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who authored arguing against the measure. “It may very well pass without most Americans knowing what it is and what it does.”

Because the choice act is part of the fast-track budget reconciliation process, it faces an easier road to passage in the Senate, requiring a simple 51-vote majority, rather than 60, and is not subject to stalling by the filibuster. In the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority, Speaker Mike Johnson has said he expects to have the budget bill done by

With a $5 billion cap, Valant pointed out, the tax credit scholarship “would overnight become one of the largest federal education programs that we have. As one of those programs, it just doesn’t meet the kinds of standards that I think we should expect for public spending in education.”

While public funding of school choice has been around since at least the late ’90s, he said there’s been a shift in the philosophy and incentives behind the measures. Historically, they were far more targeted to lower-income students or those with disabilities. 

But, “this newer wave of private school choice policies reflects very different motivations,” he said, arguing that when programs have almost-universal eligibility and are set up in ways that help wealthier people, “it’s really not at all equity- and opportunity-motivated policy.”

One way families with greater wealth are incentivized to donate? Stockholders stand to benefit through a loophole that would exempt them from paying capital gains taxes. For example, if an individual were to donate $10,000 worth of stock that they had originally purchased at $2,000, they’d still get back the full $10,000 in tax credits without ever having to pay capital gains on the $8,000 profit.

If the choice act passes, it would run through 2029, with the ability to increase the cap by up to 5% each year. It’s part of the “one big, beautiful bill” approved by the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday by 26-19 vote along party lines. Among many other provisions, the controversial bill would make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, cut funding to and extend the while raising it to $2,500 per child through 2028.

The specifics for the tax credit scholarship in the omnibus tax bill differ from the original act introduced in January in three major ways: the $10 billion cap has been cut in half; only individual taxpayers, not corporations, are eligible to donate; and participating private and parochial schools must follow and provide mandated services and accommodations to special education students as outlined in their Individualized Education Program.  

“That’s a huge regulatory burden for small private schools, and in a sense, is potentially a poison pill for the legislation,” Wolf said.

Advocates for students with disabilities maintain that the choice act does not provide the same regulatory protections to special education students in private and parochial schools as those received by special education students in public schools under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.

Experts emphasized that the bill must still go through multiple committees and the reconciliation process, so is subject to significant changes. Pro-choice advocates in particular are hoping the final language more closely mirrors that of the original bill, which allowed corporations to participate and did not require private and religious schools to comply with a student’s IEP.

A version of the bill was introduced under the first Trump administration but didn’t really gain momentum at the time. A new version was re-introduced this January by Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisania Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, and a number of his colleagues. 

“For years I’ve advocated for school choice with my Educational Choice for Children Act. I am pleased to see it included in the big, beautiful bill,” Cassidy said in a statement. “Expanding President Trump’s tax cuts is about preserving the American Dream. Giving parents the ability to choose the best education for their child makes the dream possible.”

Clarification: The story has been updated to more precisely reflect the language in the Educational Choice for Children Act around private and parochial schools’ obligation to provide services to special education students.