In 2023, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Educational Choice for Children Act, but it failed to advance out of committee.
Now, GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), are pushing to pass the ECCA through reconciliation, as Democrats remain opposed to creating a fund that allows parents to choose where to send their children to school.
In the absence of bipartisan support, Republicans, who control the House and Senate with slim majorities, could pass the ECCA with a simple majority in each chamber if it was included in reconciliation. Otherwise, it would require 60 votes in the Senate.
“The other side believes that there should be a centralized process in which all the power should be in D.C., and bureaucrats should decide what has actually been happening in our districts,” Owens told the Washington Examiner. “That’s why reconciliation would be a very good way of going at it because we can do it with a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate, and President Trump will definitely sign off.”
A spokesperson for Scott said he couldn’t speak on how much Democratic support there would be for the bill but affirmed that the South Carolina senator is working to get the legislation passed.
“I can say Sen. Scott is exploring all possible paths to advance this critical piece of legislation through Congress,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “Unlocking educational resources and freedoms remains a top priority for Sen. Scott. He knows the world of difference access to high-quality education can make.”
School choice advocacy groups such as the American Federation for Children agree that including the ECCA in the reconciliation is the best way to pass it in this Congressional session.
“Congress can do that this year by ensuring the Educational Choice for Children Act is in the reconciliation package,” Brian Jodice, national press secretary for the American Federation for Children, told the Washington Examiner. “We encourage members to rally around this important legislation because it is an essential piece to the President’s agenda on sending education back to the states and advancing school choice in America.”
The ECCA would offer tax credits to individuals and businesses that donate to a fund managed by a scholarship-granting organization under IRS oversight. Parents in all 50 states could then access these funds — without reducing federal school funding — to enroll their children in schools that best fit their needs.
“It allows normal Americans to invest in our own kids best in our culture, our industries, and our future, and it does that by, first of all, taking nothing away at all from the local, state, or districts,” Owens said. “So the parent can take a look at what’s best for their child, who’s bringing the best value, to make sure that the child is best prepared for the future, and they can take their child and put it into that system.”
Owens said Congress must end the system in which a child’s ZIP code determines their educational opportunities.
A National Institutes of Health study found that children living in poverty tend to perform lower on standardized test scores. School choice advocates such as Owens and Jodice believe the ECCA would provide better educational opportunities for students in low-income areas.
Since the Education Department was created in 1979, per-pupil spending has increased by 245%, yet standardized testing scores in mathematics and reading have dropped in recent years.
HOW TRUMP’S PROMISE TO ABOLISH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WOULD WORK
President Donald Trump has railed against the federal government’s top-down approach to addressing the educational needs of American students. He signed an executive order Thursday directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department.
“I want every parent in America to be empowered to send their child to public, private, charter, or faith-based school of their choice,” Trump said in a press release regarding the executive order. “The time for universal school choice has come. As we return education to the states, I will use every power I have to give parents this right.”
