{"id":3757,"date":"2026-03-04T18:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand.org\/illinois\/?p=3757"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:36:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:36:52","slug":"confused-about-the-federal-tax-credit-scholarship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand.org\/illinois\/our-stories\/confused-about-the-federal-tax-credit-scholarship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Confused About\u2026 the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n.entry-title {display:none;}\n<\/style>\n\n\n<div  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-e03c0e\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style1 ultp-heading-center\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span>Confused About\u2026 the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program?\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Everywhere I look for information about this new federal OBBBA scholarship law, I find arguments from ideologues who are already well entrenched in their feelings about school choice&nbsp;forcefully advocating that Illinois&nbsp;opt&nbsp;out altogether or stridently declaring that&nbsp;we\u2019d&nbsp;be stupid not to take the free money.&nbsp;(For example,&nbsp;here\u2019s&nbsp;a l<a href=\"https:\/\/assets.nationbuilder.com\/ilfps\/pages\/2300\/attachments\/original\/1769489600\/Sign-on_letter_to_Gov_re_federal_vouchers_1.27.26.pdf?1769489600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">etter from numerous orgs<\/a>&nbsp;asking&nbsp;Governor Pritzker to&nbsp;opt out,&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2026\/02\/18\/opinion-illinois-opt-in-federal-scholarship-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Comptroller Mendoza<\/a>&nbsp;editorializing&nbsp;in favor,&nbsp;four&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/scholarship-tax-credit-leaves-democratic-governors-with-difficult-choice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democratic Governors<\/a>&nbsp;opting&nbsp;out&nbsp;while&nbsp;one&nbsp;opted&nbsp;in,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.illinoispolicy.org\/press-releases\/polls-open-32-illinois-counties-see-education-question-on-march-primary-ballot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Illinois Policy Institute<\/a>&nbsp;supporting and organizing counties across the state to ask a ballot question about it.)&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>What I see is a whole lot of gray&nbsp;area&nbsp;and questions. And&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;been asking them. So, I thought&nbsp;I\u2019d&nbsp;share what&nbsp;I\u2019ve&nbsp;learned so far.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be&nbsp;sure, this&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;the kind of program I would have designed or supported if my goal&nbsp;was&nbsp;to improve educational outcomes and opportunities for the kids left furthest behind in the current system.&nbsp;Looking at the federal law, there&nbsp;are&nbsp;no restrictions on the quality of the programs,&nbsp;requirements for&nbsp;measurement of results,&nbsp;provisions against discrimination&nbsp;of who enrolls,&nbsp;or&nbsp;attempts&nbsp;to balance where scholarships are awarded to enhance equity.&nbsp;Upper-middle class students are just as eligible&nbsp;for scholarships as the most impoverished students.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the&nbsp;fact is that the program exists. Illinois taxpayers are eligible for&nbsp;the&nbsp;tax credit&nbsp;whether or not&nbsp;Illinois&nbsp;opts in for our students to receive scholarships.&nbsp;There is no impact on state&nbsp;revenues. The federal&nbsp;coffers have potential to take a big hit, and it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess whether that will result in lower allocations to public education in future years&nbsp;vs. getting added to a growing deficit vs.&nbsp;spending on military, Medicaid, SNAP, or other programs&nbsp;\u2013 but again, Illinois taxpayers will still be able to donate \u2013 at no cost to themselves \u2013 to scholarship programs in Indiana or Iowa&nbsp;whether or not we participate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"Whatsan_Accountability_System\"  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-4b82ca\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style7 ultp-heading-left\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span><strong>What\u2019s\u00a0the\u00a0Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">It\u2019s&nbsp;a&nbsp;provision&nbsp;of&nbsp;H.R.&nbsp;1, better known as&nbsp;the&nbsp;\u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d&nbsp;(OBBBA),&nbsp;giving&nbsp;taxpayers&nbsp;an up-to-$1,700&nbsp;credit&nbsp;on their federal income taxes&nbsp;if they contribute&nbsp;up to&nbsp;$1,700&nbsp;to a&nbsp;\u201cScholarship-Granting Organization\u201d&nbsp;(SGO)&nbsp;starting in 2027.&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;a dollar-for-dollar credit, and&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;no cap on the&nbsp;number of taxpayers who can use it. So, this has&nbsp;potential&nbsp;to become&nbsp;a huge program.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Governors&nbsp;essentially have&nbsp;the unilateral power to&nbsp;identify&nbsp;SGOs;&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;no need for legislation, or consensus from education agencies, or anyone else.&nbsp;OBBBA requires SGOs to&nbsp;be non-profit organizations that&nbsp;spend at least 90% of funds on scholarships,&nbsp;grant scholarships to more than one school, and verify that family income is less than 300% of the area median income (which is&nbsp;about $360,000 for a family of 4 in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicago.gov\/content\/dam\/city\/depts\/doh\/AMICharts\/2025%20Income%20Limits.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chicago metro area<\/a>).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"Are_the_changes_goodSome_of_them\"  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-08caef\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style7 ultp-heading-left\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span><strong>What Types of Scholarships Can Be Funded?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">So far, it looks like&nbsp;many types of scholarships would qualify&nbsp;\u2013 tuition to private schools; tutoring, afterschool programs, and summer camp for&nbsp;students in public schools;&nbsp;career development and workforce training for high schoolers;&nbsp;extracurricular activities;&nbsp;and probably lots of other things I\u2019m not thinking of yet among a broad ecosystem of programs. The key is that there must be a non-profit&nbsp;set up to administer the scholarship&nbsp;(and that will take some effort to stand&nbsp;up&nbsp;this sort of organization&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chadaldeman.com\/p\/should-you-start-an-sgo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here&#8217;s&nbsp;a blog about how to start one<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main question on my mind&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;what&nbsp;<em>can<\/em>&nbsp;be funded,&nbsp;so much as it is what can be&nbsp;<em>blocked&nbsp;<\/em>from funding.&nbsp;How much power will governors have to pick and choose who&nbsp;gets on their list?&nbsp;We&nbsp;won\u2019t&nbsp;know&nbsp;until late spring\/early summer when the Department of Treasury issues regulations.&nbsp;By law, this program is super&nbsp;flexible&nbsp;and&nbsp;governors&nbsp;have a lot of autonomy and power to decide.&nbsp;But in regulations?&nbsp;Department&nbsp;of Treasury wrote in its request for public comment that it \u201canticipates\u201d&nbsp;requiring&nbsp;inclusion of&nbsp;<em>all<\/em>&nbsp;SGOs who meet the&nbsp;minimum&nbsp;criteria and request to be on the list.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Under the&nbsp;minimum&nbsp;criteria, here are some examples of what works and&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;work:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If&nbsp;the&nbsp;for-profit&nbsp;House of Violins&nbsp;wanted to&nbsp;accept&nbsp;donations to&nbsp;give free&nbsp;violin lessons&nbsp;to&nbsp;children&nbsp;who live in a nearby public housing&nbsp;high-rise,&nbsp;that&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t&nbsp;work&nbsp;because it&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;a non-profit.&nbsp;If it created a non-profit arm to receive&nbsp;donations for free violin lessons, that also&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t&nbsp;work because scholarships&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;go to just one school. If all the music schools in the&nbsp;city&nbsp;jointly created a&nbsp;House&nbsp;of Music non-profit to fund lessons for&nbsp;students in multiple schools, that would seem to work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For another example, if&nbsp;Main Street High School wanted to raise funds to award scholarships for students to&nbsp;participate&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;summer enrichment program,&nbsp;they\u2019d&nbsp;have trouble since the school&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;a non-profit organization. If the&nbsp;Friends of Main Street High School Foundation agreed to raise the funds, they would have to&nbsp;broaden their reach to&nbsp;give to more than one school and verify family income to ensure students receiving scholarships fall under the 300% average area median income threshold.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:52px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"Whats_Concerning\"  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-91f8d4\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style7 ultp-heading-left\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span><strong>What\u2019s\u00a0the Case for Opting\u00a0In?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:19px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">In an era of unprecedented federal&nbsp;actions against&nbsp;public education, this could be a real opportunity to&nbsp;boost funding&nbsp;and open doors for students.&nbsp;Every public school, after-school program, park district,&nbsp;and tutoring provider could choose to&nbsp;partner with a nonprofit that meets the criteria to qualify as an SGO,&nbsp;widely disseminate information to their constituents&nbsp;to raise funds, cast&nbsp;a wide net to reach the neediest populations of students, and&nbsp;provide opportunities for students who otherwise couldn\u2019t afford them for tutoring, enrichment, and summer camp.&nbsp;Even better,&nbsp;statewide nonprofits could intentionally&nbsp;organize to fundraise from the areas of the state&nbsp;that have the most&nbsp;income and award scholarships in areas with the least resources \u2013 mitigating the&nbsp;inequities that would be likely if left to local nonprofits&nbsp;raising and gifting in wealthy areas and leaving poorer regions without scholarships.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of federal regulations,&nbsp;this scenario could happen.&nbsp;But it would strongly depend on intentionality in the creation and promotion of SGOs that prioritize&nbsp;equitable&nbsp;opportunities for public school students.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If federal regulations&nbsp;allow, the state could&nbsp;also add more guardrails: lower income thresholds for&nbsp;scholarship&nbsp;recipients;&nbsp;a&nbsp;prohibition on scholarships to entities that discriminate based on disability, sexual orientation,&nbsp;or religion; and&nbsp;a requirement that schools accepting scholarships&nbsp;release some kind of audit and report on program effectiveness.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">And more importantly, Illinois taxpayers still qualify&nbsp;for the tax credit regardless of whether Illinois&nbsp;participates.&nbsp;If Illinois&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;opt in, our neighbors who&nbsp;have already opted in (Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri) will&nbsp;market to&nbsp;Illinoisans to donate across the border, as will&nbsp;states&nbsp;across the country.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:52px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"What_Can_I_Do\"  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-3f5d4b\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style7 ultp-heading-left\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span><strong>What\u2019s\u00a0the Case for Opting Out?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">The program obviously&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;created with the above scenario in mind\u2014it was created for private school vouchers.&nbsp;Even in the&nbsp;best case&nbsp;scenario,&nbsp;unless federal regulations allow states to impose further guardrails,&nbsp;the majority of&nbsp;scholarships are likely to go to private schools.&nbsp;That could have some negative repercussions if&nbsp;lots of&nbsp;bright&nbsp;students leave their public schools, courted by private schools.&nbsp;(Some research on similar programs&nbsp;show&nbsp;a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/petergreene\/2025\/06\/17\/who-benefits-from-school-vouchers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lot of scholarships go to students who are already there<\/a>, in which case&nbsp;it seems the impact&nbsp;on the public school would&nbsp;not be&nbsp;some dramatic.&nbsp;So&nbsp;(slightly)&nbsp;lower-income private school families&nbsp;save some money they otherwise would have spent on tuition, while driving the federal deficit a little&nbsp;deeper.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If scholarships do indeed drain&nbsp;public schools of significant&nbsp;students,&nbsp;Evidence-Based Funding&nbsp;(EBF)&nbsp;will reflect the decreased&nbsp;enrollment,&nbsp;the school&nbsp;will be closer to its adequacy target, and&nbsp;its funding could be&nbsp;impacted. However,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;highly unlikely the state will&nbsp;discontinue&nbsp;its promise of&nbsp;allocating&nbsp;$300 million to EBF, so&nbsp;the same amount of state funding should continue going to schools. Still, if students going to private schools are concentrated&nbsp;in particular districts, those&nbsp;schools could net a smaller increase from EBF tier money.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">At the&nbsp;macro-level,&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;no direct connection between the drain on federal resources through the tax credit and&nbsp;the federal education budget. But it&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t&nbsp;be a surprising leap to see a justification for a budget decrease if the tax credit&nbsp;generates significant funds for scholarships.&nbsp;Whether or not Illinois&nbsp;participates, this scenario&nbsp;could happen \u2013 though if fewer states&nbsp;participate&nbsp;and&nbsp;fewer people are persuaded to take the credit, the total hole in federal tax receipts would&nbsp;be lower.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"Related_Resources\"  class=\"wp-block-ultimate-post-heading ultp-block-a91b46\"><div class=\"ultp-block-wrapper\"><div class=\"ultp-heading-wrap ultp-heading-style7 ultp-heading-left\"><h1 class=\"ultp-heading-inner\"><span><strong>So where does this leave us?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>My personal conclusion is that&nbsp;I\u2019m&nbsp;not comfortable leaving the gray area until the federal regulations are unveiled.&nbsp;<\/strong>There are bills pending requiring Illinois to opt in and others&nbsp;requiring opt out.&nbsp;It&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;seem like the right time for any of them\u2026 yet.&nbsp;I think Governor Pritzker&nbsp;has the right idea:&nbsp;wait to see the fine print before&nbsp;we get in over our heads.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Program\u00a0gives taxpayers\u00a0an up-to-$1,700\u00a0credit\u00a0on their federal income taxes\u00a0if they contribute\u00a0up to\u00a0$1,700\u00a0to a\u00a0\u201cScholarship-Granting Organization\u201d\u00a0(SGO)\u00a0starting in 2027.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0a dollar-for-dollar credit, and\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no cap on the\u00a0number of taxpayers who can use it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","color_schema":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-confused-about"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - 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