Youngkin launches national push for Trump school-choice tax credit

Former Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a national policy advocacy group Aug. 5 that plans to spend millions pressing holdout states to join President Donald Trump’s federal school-choice tax credit, returning Youngkin to the education issue that helped make him a major player in national debates over parents’ rights.

Empowering America’s Parents is committed to placing parents “at the head of the table” through greater transparency in public education and expanded educational choice, according to its website. Its first effort will be a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign aimed at states that have not opted into the Education Freedom Tax Credit, NBC News reported.

Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – four presidential battlegrounds led by Democratic governors – will be among the initial targets. A source familiar with the group’s plans told CBS News that the campaign will primarily seek to persuade suburban voters who support school choice but may not know about the new program.

“Nothing is more important than our kids,” Youngkin said in announcing the group. He called the tax credit a “game-changing scholarship program” and promised to “aggressively call out far-left governors” who refuse to participate.

Youngkin’s organization says 30 states have joined the program and 20 have not. During the final weeks of Youngkin’s gubernatorial term, Virginia became the first state to opt in formally.

The Education Freedom Tax Credit was enacted as part of Trump’s 2025 tax-and-spending law. Beginning with contributions made in January 2027, taxpayers may receive a dollar-for-dollar, nonrefundable federal income tax credit of up to $1,700 for cash donations to approved scholarship-granting organizations.

Those organizations will award scholarships to students from households earning no more than 300% of their area’s median income. According to a Treasury Department fact sheet, families may use the scholarships for private or religious-school tuition, tutoring, books, classroom supplies, online courses, career-training expenses, and support services for students with disabilities. Homeschoolers can benefit. Public-school students are also eligible.

Youngkin’s group emphasizes that the program uses private contributions and a federal tax credit rather than state tax dollars, and does not directly reduce public-school appropriations. 

Leading teachers unions have pushed Democratic governors to reject the program. As Zeale News previously reported, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., has introduced legislation seeking to repeal the tax credit before its scheduled launch.

The new campaign brings Youngkin back to the issue at the center of his 2021 gubernatorial upset. Parents had become increasingly active after prolonged COVID-related school closures and controversies involving race-based instruction, sexually explicit library materials, “transgender” policies, and Loudoun County school officials’ handling of sexual-assault cases.

During a September 2021 debate, Youngkin’s Democratic opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, defended his veto of legislation requiring parental notification about sexually explicit school materials and declared, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” That remark became a centerpiece of Youngkin’s closing campaign argument, as CatholicVote reported at the time.

Youngkin ultimately defeated McAuliffe only one year after President Joe Biden carried Virginia by 10 points.