Senate includes school choice in ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill draft 

A national school choice plan is moving forward after a Senate committee included it in a draft of its “big, beautiful” budget bill.

The Senate Finance Committee released its version of the national budget proposal on Monday, which includes $4 billion per year in tax credits for school choice.

The Educational Choice for Children Act, or ECCA, was included in the House budget bill, which passed last month. The Senate committee’s version reduced the annual cap from $5 billion in the House version to $4 billion but removed the 10-year sunset on the program. The two chambers will need to reach a compromise.

The American Federation for Children celebrated “the inclusion of a robust school choice tax credit in legislative text released by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday,” it said in a release. “This law would bring school choice to all 50 states and deliver on (President Donald Trump’s) mission to send education back to the states.” 

Republicans hold small majorities in both houses. The House passed its budget 215-214, and Republicans hold a three-seat majority in the Senate, meaning a few lawmakers withdrawing their support would doom the bill. 

While the chambers’ plans differ on items such as green energy tax credits and deduction amounts for state and local taxes, school choice is not a point of conflict. 

Corey DeAngelis, a school choice evangelist, cited new polling showing that Americans of all political backgrounds support the tax credit plan. 

Support included 72% of Democrats and 82% of families with K-12 children, which DeAngelis described as “supermajority support among Republicans, Democrats and independents.” 

If passed and signed into law, the tax credit would enable school choice nationwide, including in states that do not currently offer it. Under the plan, businesses and individuals would donate a portion of their federal tax liability to scholarship organizations that would grant funding for students to attend private schools. 

Several states already use tax credits to fund school choice, which could be used in conjunction with a federal program. 

Several groups, including the Orthodox Jewish community, have launched campaigns encouraging the Senate to pass the school choice program and to restore its funding cap to an originally proposed $10 billion per year. 

Senate leadership hopes to vote on the bill by July 4.