New York, New York – Now that the midterm elections are behind us, we at Children’s Scholarship Fund hope that governors in states that have not yet opted in to the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) will put children in their states first and act swiftly to opt in. We also encourage governors in every state to submit their list of qualified scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs) to the IRS.
Technically, governors have until January 1, 2027 to opt in and until February 15, 2027 to submit a list of SGOs operating in their state, but we recommend they act immediately to ensure the FSTC is a success for children in their states.
There is no downside to moving forward on the FSTC since more than 90 percent of all children – including children attending public and public charter schools – would be eligible to use FSTC scholarships to fund educational expenses such as tuition, tutoring, afterschool programs, test prep, summer enhancement programs, and other educational services they might not otherwise be able to afford.
FSTC scholarships would not take any funding away from existing K-12 education budgets. They would only add to the amount of funding available for schoolchildren.
However, if a state does not opt in to the FSTC, taxpayers in that state will still be able to take advantage of the tax credit and make contributions to scholarship-granting organizations serving families in other states. As New York Governor Kathy Hochul put it when she announced she would opt in, “I’m not going to leave money on the table when it could help our kids.”
The FSTC has the power to fundamentally transform the educational landscape, giving children the opportunity to flourish, but only if they live in a participating state. Thirty-one states have already opted in or their governors have said they plan to do so. Now we need the remaining states to step up and announce they are opting in to the FSTC and all states to submit their list of SGOs to the IRS to make sure the FSTC helps as many children as possible in its first year.
For more information on the FSTC, visit https://scholarshipfund.org/federal-tax-credit-sgos/
Contact: Audrey Mullen, 202-270-2772
audrey@advocacyink.com
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