May 7, 2026
It depends upon who you’re talking to.
The National Teachers Association (NEA) is loudly and strongly opposed, but the NEA lost the plot of what education was supposed to accomplish a long time ago. It has devolved into nothing more than a radical, partisan political group led by Cultural Marxists. The NEA’s annual platform initiatives are divisive, racist, and steeped in social and racial equity. It has been so infiltrated with Marxist rot – it doesn’t even bother hiding its goal of creating activists rather than scholars. Naturally, the NEA consistently opposes any school choice initiatives because it can no longer influence and control the students who escape their indoctrination camps. It rails against the ECCA as “just another voucher scheme” in an attempt to mislead the public on how it really works. The NEA states the ECCA is diverting public tax dollars away from schools when, in fact, ECCA provides a tax credit to private taxpayers who donate to public 501(c)(3) Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). The NEA seems to think public money belongs to them so the mere idea that any potential tax dollars might go elsewhere is regarded as theft. At the same time, the NEA ignores the fact that it has utterly failed to demonstrate good stewardship of our hard-earned tax dollars. In fact, the results are quite the opposite. The graph below shows a steady and NEGATIVE correlation between reading and math proficiencies and increased public funding. Cleary the NEA does not deserve our trust.
Then there are other left leaning groups such as Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy who decry the ECCA as just a “tax code to privilege nonprofit organizations that give out private K-12 school vouchers over nonprofits working on other issues.” The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calls it a “tax shelter scheme” for the wealthy and provide a helpful analysis showing how it would help seven uber wealthy Americans. Um…OK. Whatever. As for the rest of us, we’re simply looking for a way to give our kids a better education, not focused on how much richer 10 of the richest people in the country might become. We are sick and tired of the old political tactic of envy.
Then there are thoughtful groups like the Center of the American Experiment which believes the ECCA is “a step” in the right direction. Last fall they reported this:
Support for the new federal tax credit scholarship program crosses political party lines, according to a recent national poll from 3D Strategic Research.
The poll, commissioned by the American Federation for Children, surveyed 1,000 registered voters early September and found that the federal tax-credit scholarship program — created under the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) — is popular in red, blue, and purple states, with nearly two-thirds of voters (64 percent) wanting their state to participate compared to just 18 percent who oppose.
Broken down by party affiliation, 70 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents, and 58 percent of Democrats support their state participating in the program. Sixty-six percent of parents with children under age 18 are in favor of the scholarship provision, as well as 67 percent of parents with children in public schools.
The program, funded by individual donations to federally recognized nonprofits, costs states zero dollars to participate and provides scholarships to eligible students in public, private, and home schools for use toward educational expenses such as tuition, tutoring, therapy services, and enrichment learning opportunities, to name a few.
But states have to opt-in for students to receive the scholarships.
One serious objection to the ECCA is that, undoubtedly nonpublic school costs will rise significantly with this fresh influx of money, just as the cost of higher education rose dramatically with the onset of federal financial aid. Then-Education Secretary William Bennett called it “Our Greedy Colleges” in a 1987 op-ed in the New York Times. We can fully expect the same results here and, consequently, many families who currently sacrifice to enroll their children in private education will not qualify for education scholarships. These families will be priced out, closing the door to their current opportunity. This is an alarming matter with historical precedent backing it up.
Then, we have educational experts like Alex Newman who have personally experienced what happens when government suddenly makes private education and homeschooling illegal! He is a subject-matter expert who has researched and written extensively on the long-term globalist goals for education, none of which are stymied by the ECCA. He highlights a 2025 Washington Post editorial written by Arne Duncan and Education Reform Now CEO Jorge Elorza, calling new federal data on student achievement “a national wake-up call.” They wrote that “fourth graders struggle with basic reading,” and that eighth-grade “science scores have declined. Twelfth graders are performing at generational lows in both reading and math. The cracks in our education system are forming early and widening across K-12.” In response, Newman wrote:
Of course, Duncan and Elorza are correct about this: the U.S. government’s “education” system is a dumpster fire of historic proportions that is handicapping tens of millions of Americans. The reality is even worse than they let on. Not only are students struggling with basic academics, they are also being indoctrinated and sexualized to an unprecedented degree. Many are now so brainwashed they believe they were born in the “wrong” body.
The call in the Post, though, is not a serious attempt to fix these problems. Instead, Duncan and Elorza are urging Democrat governors and legislators to embrace the “school choice” scheme adopted in the One Big Beautiful Bill to further the leftist brainwashing. This new funding stream, made possible by tax credits, could help Democrats regain the “educational (and moral) high ground,” they say.
He goes on to point out that “many of the biggest financiers of ‘school choice’ are on the left. Billionaires like Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, and Mark Zuckerberg have all contributed in a major way, and adds “it is not because they want better education.”
Even the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is embracing “school choice.” As reported by The Newman Report in its 2022 Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO believes offering government funding to “non-state education providers” such as private schools will allow governments to impose UN demands on them.
We share this concern. Advocates on both sides of the aisle are calling for “transparency”, “accountability” and “curriculum reviews.” These are code words for governmental encroachment, oversight and control.
By now, everyone should clearly understand that there is no such thing as “free” money– especially if the government is involved in any way. A program like this can be quickly redefined and totally changed by an incoming administration so extreme caution must rule when evaluating the long-term cost of the ECCA.
As Alex Newman wrote:
..they want to capture control over the hearts and minds of every child, including those now educated outside the system, by offering them “free” money in exchange for their freedom.
The invisible players in this entire discussion are the Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) that have the authority to determine which schools will be deemed “qualified.” Who are these SGOs? Who founded them? Who are they answering to? Will they distribute allocation of funds equally and without prejudice?
These fundamental questions must be addressed.