Spanberger Is Closing a Door Washington Opened for Virginia Families. The Facts Say Keep It Open

Virginia was supposed to be among the first states in line. Instead, its families may be left on the curb. Gov. Abigail Spanberger will reverse her predecessor's decision to enroll the state in the new federal school-choice tax credit, The Washington Post reported Friday, after an IRS letter showed that former Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration had never finished the enrollment process despite months of publicizing it. A Blue Virginia news roundup, citing the Post, said Spanberger has made clear she won't complete the process.

The program, created by Congress last year, lets taxpayers claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to approved scholarship-granting organizations, and it launches on Jan. 1, 2027. Those organizations then help families pay for education costs. A state takes part by opting in and sending the IRS its list of approved scholarship groups. Youngkin filed an advance election before leaving office, but under the Treasury Department's temporary rules that election counts for 2027 only if Virginia submits its list by Feb. 15, 2027. Without it, Virginia schools and families cannot benefit next year.

The stakes are high because the state's own program is running out. Virginia's existing scholarship tax credit is set to expire after 2027, just as the federal credit gets underway, the Daily Progress reported. Walking away from the federal option could leave the families who rely on these scholarships with nothing at all.

The Virginia Education Association, the state teachers union, urged Spanberger to keep Virginia out, and critics have claimed the program could cost Virginia's public schools up to $956 million.

Start with where the money comes from. The credit is funded by voluntary private donations that earn a federal tax credit; it is not a state appropriation carved out of Virginia's school budget. A Virginia business owner who gives $1,700 to a scholarship group is choosing where a slice of his federal taxes goes. If Virginia stays out, that money does not go to Richmond's classrooms. It simply stays in Washington, or goes to children in the states that said yes.

Nor is this a program for the wealthy few. An analysis reported by K-12 Dive estimated that about 51.7 million students, roughly 9 in 10 children nationwide, would meet its eligibility rules. And the scholarships are not limited to private-school tuition. A review by the Richmond law firm Williams Mullen found the credit could deliver dollars to public as well as private K-12 schools.

That helps explain why even some public-school leaders don't want out. In October, the Chesapeake School Board voted 7-2 against a resolution asking the governor to withdraw, after a board member noted that local scholarship groups could form to support Chesapeake students, WTKR reported.

Then there is the principle. A century ago, the Supreme Court struck down an Oregon law forcing children into government schools and declared that "the child is not the mere creature of the State". Parents, not politicians, bear the first responsibility for their children's education. For a Catholic family in Richmond, a Baptist family in the Shenandoah Valley or a single mother in Norfolk whose son needs a tutor, a scholarship is not a threat to public education. It is a way to do what a parent is called to do.

Virginia would be swimming against a strong current. Thirty-one states have decided to join the program, while a handful, including Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico and Oregon, have said they will not participate, the Kiowa County Press reported. Local boards like Chesapeake's have refused to ask the state to leave, and the families who use Virginia's expiring state scholarships will be watching Richmond closely.

The governor still has time. Donations begin on Jan. 1, and the state's list is not due until Feb. 15. Turning away federal scholarship dollars that cost the state budget nothing, for children who need them, is not pragmatism. It is siding with the teachers union over the families public policy is supposed to serve. She can still change course, and Virginia's parents have every reason to ask her to.