In an editorial published June 23, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is reporting that the heads of the two largest teachers’ unions, Randi Weingarten and Becky Pringle, have issued an ultimatum to the 24 democratic governors regarding participation in the new federal tax credit program to promote school choice.
The teachers unions threat to governors will probably be taken seriously, because it entails losing endorsements and campaign funding by governors that opt to participate.
The loss of union support is significant. Teachers unions have contributed about $700 million to various liberal causes, including governor races, since 2015. In addition to money and endorsements, union members often comprise a significant portion of boots-on-the-ground working on behalf of democratic governors.
The WSJ piece is listing the democratic governors of two states as having stated that they will opt in, Colorado and New York. The Internal Revenue’s list of 27 states that have opted in includes Colorado, but not New York.
Arizona is also absent from the Internal Revenue’s list of participating states. This is quite understandable, because Arizona’s governor, Katie Hobbs is a staunch opponent of school choice. She has gone so far as to claim that Arizona’s school choice program, the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) is bankrupting the state. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ESA program is saving the state some money because, except for special needs cases, ESA students receive less funding than their district school counterparts. An often-uttered tongue-in-cheek remark is that showing Katie a school choice document elicits a reaction akin to that of Dracula’s when shown a cross.
This new federal tax credit program is part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed by congress and signed into law by President Trump. Here is how the pro school choice organization Ed Choice has described the program:
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act creates an individual, dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 per individual taxpayer for contributions to state-approved, federally recognized non-profits that distribute scholarships to eligible children. There is no cap on the total amount of donations and the program requires states to opt in. The program will start on January 1, 2027.”
It should be stressed that the cost to states that choose to participate is zero. Therefore, the only reasons for governors to refuse to opt in are to undermine school choice and satisfy their benefactors.
One key provision of this program is that eligibility is limited to taxpayers residing in states that have opted in. This enables teachers’ unions to coerce governors into opting out, thus denying taxpayers in the state this important tool to advance school choice.
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