Despite spending nearly $30,000 per student on education—almost twice the national average—New York ranks at the bottom in student performance.
Policies out of Washington and Albany continue the poor results while making it hard for children to break away from government schools and attend better-performing private institutions.
The Invest in Education Coalition has a solution to the problem, which they say would benefit as many as two million students across all 50 states.
They would like to see a tax credit for donations going into a fund that would provide scholarships for families to enroll their children in any school they want. Fueled by donors seeking tax relief, the fund is estimated to generate as much as $10 billion.
“There is no role for the U.S. Department of Education for this and no new federal spending or government mandates on states, school districts, private schools, including faith-based, or families,” explained the Coalition’s Peter Murphy. He discussed the plan at the annual conference of the New York Conservatives, whose members support less government interference in the education process.
“The fund will help protect religious liberty and school autonomy by prohibiting governmental control or encroachment over Scholarship Granting Organizations that receive tax-credited contributions, schools that enroll scholarship recipients, or parents who instruct their children at home,” Murphy said. He noted that using private donations, not public funds, would further protect against government overreach in education.
The strategy would be allowed under the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), currently making its way through Congress.
It's been reintroduced in the House by Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska and in the Senate by Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
During last year’s session, the ECCA bill had 150 co-sponsors in the House and 30 in the Senate and was passed by the House Ways and Means Committee.
“This was the most congressional support ever for a bill to enact parental choice in education, including from the Republican congressional leadership,” pointed out Murphy, who said President Donald Trump has also voiced his support.
The scholarship fund would be open to K-12 students from low-to-middle-class households with incomes up to 300% of the median gross income level, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
More than 150 national and state-based organizations and influencers have endorsed the Educational Choice Act.