President Donald Trump created a new tax credit that would benefit private schools under the legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” But a Democrat in Virginia's House of Delegates wants to limit those funds with a new bill that got out of committee early Monday morning.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit program offers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for those who donate to certain schools approved by a state’s governor. One of former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s last actions was to enter Virginia into the program and provide a list of institutions which could benefit.
It’s basically a new, national voucher program, one that most Republican-led states have entered. Most Democrat-led states are waiting for more rules from the federal government before deciding.
But Fairfax-area Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer wants to limit who could receive these funds via a new bill that would require recipients of the funds take the SOLs, among other Department of Education requirements, and follow civil rights laws.
“This is a bill that ensures public dollars from the federal government as administered by Virginia are never used to discriminate against Virginians," Helmer told Radio IQ.
But Cumberland County Republican Delegate Tom Garret said he was worried the law would violate the U.S. Constitution by requiring schools to teach subjects that go against their faith.
“We can’t do this but if we do this it will be struck down,” Garret warned.
Michael J. Petrilli is president of the right-leaning education think tank the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He said the program wasn’t well designed, but it could be a new source of funding for private schools. He thinks Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, should keep the state in it.
“As a show of good faith, and to allow, for example, to allow low-income kids in Richmond to go to Catholic schools that have a long history of serving poor and working-class kids well," Petrilli told Radio IQ. "That’s something she very much might want to do.”
Petrilli said Spanberger could change the listed schools in the program, and even have it include tutoring programs that could be linked to existing public schools.
The bill now heads to a money committee where its $3 million dollar price tag could decide its fate.
