For years, the schooling unions insisted that school choice was a solution in search of a problem – nowhere more than in Texas. Even after Gov. Greg Abbott led the way in ensuring a pro-school choice legislative majority was elected to better represent constituents, they insisted that the bill was a “vendor bill,” something that special interests might want, but certainly not Texas families.
On Feb. 4, Texas families proved them wrong. Within less than two weeks, over 100,000 applications had been received for the Texas Education Freedom Account program. 42,000 applications came in on the first day alone. It was the largest launch of a new school choice program in U.S. history.
So much for nobody wanting this.
Seven in 10 applicants are from low- or middle-income households. These are working families who have been waiting for the same opportunity that had been locked out of Texas.
Texas didn’t arrive here easily. The unions spent millions fighting school choice across numerous special sessions. Opponents in the legislature filed dozens of amendments to kill it. Fortunately, legislators chose to listen to parents over lobbyists, and Abbott signed the bill into law.
Now look at the results. 100,000 students. Two weeks. And the applications are still coming in.
As I recently wrote, our nation is going through a critical shift in K-12 education because an entire generation of young people has been failed by a system that too many politicians are content to leave unchanged.
In Texas, families are now doing something about it. In states such as New York and California, they can’t. Major blue states still offer zero school choice options for families who desperately need it. New York remains one of the only large states in the country with no financial pathway for a lower-income family to choose a school outside the public system.
The same system that is failing a generation of students remains the only feasible option, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
There is a historic opportunity for Gov. Kathy Hochul — and all governors — right now. The federal education freedom tax credit, signed into law last July as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, creates a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for people who donate to scholarship-granting organizations. Those scholarships can fund private school tuition, tutoring, school supplies, transportation, and services for students with disabilities. Families earning up to 300% of the area median income are eligible. It costs the state of New York nothing. It’s a no-brainer.
There’s one catch: each state’s governor has to opt in.
Twenty-seven governors have already done so. Four have refused. Hochul has said nothing.
Her silence will not go unnoticed or be without a cost.
New York taxpayers can still donate to SGOs and claim the federal tax credit, but every dollar they give will fund scholarships for students in other states. New York families will contribute and claim the tax credit — that’s a guarantee. Children in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and beyond will get the scholarships. Meanwhile, children in New York, who desperately need options, will continue to go without.
The reason for governors’ hesitation is no secret. Despite letting down a generation of students even before the pandemic, despite demanding schools remain closed and decimating countless futures, the teachers unions remain some of the most powerful political forces in Albany, Sacramento, and too many statehouses across the United States.
Perhaps some nervous political leaders might hope that there’s no real demand — that this moment can pass quietly and they can continue to pursue the same old policies without upsetting their schooling union backers.
But Texas just gave 100,000 reasons why this idea is mistaken. These numbers represent parents — predominantly low and middle income — who finally have the chance to choose; Who have hope that their children’s futures are not dependent on family incomes. Students in every state deserve that opportunity.
THE US HOCKEY TEAM KNELT AND THAT’S WHAT MATTERS
Hochul, and every governor where choice is currently limited, must opt in as soon as possible.
Tommy Schultz is CEO of the American Federation for Children and the AFC Victory Fund, the nation’s largest school choice advocacy and elections organizations.
