President Trump signed an executive order last month directing the Department of Education to prioritize discretionary funding for school choice initiatives.
This order is a step in the right direction and puts wind in the sails of the school choice movement. But executive orders can only do so much. The Education Department’s discretionary funding for school choice is limited, so the order — although welcome — cannot expand educational opportunities to all American families.
To make school choice happen nationally, Congress must get with the program. The good news is Republicans in Congress introduced a nationwide school choice bill last month called the Educational Choice for Children Act.
The bill creates a federal tax credit scholarship program that is neither run nor regulated by the institution President Trump wants to abolish: the Department of Education. This framework means Congress could expand school choice and get rid of the Department of Education at the same time.
People and corporations would receive federal tax benefits for contributing to organizations that provide scholarships to K-12 students. the House Ways and Means Committee passed a version of the bill on a party-line vote last September. That vote was the first time a nationwide school choice bill passed out of a Congressional committee in US history. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune both support the legislation, and President Trump said he would sign it.
This bill would boost the school choice revolution already happening in red states while expanding educational opportunities to families in blue states. Tax credit funding is limited, however, to $10 billion and families must earn no more than 300 percent of the median household income in the area (or a national average of $225,000 according to the latest data from the US Census Bureau) to qualify for the scholarships.
An estimated two million students could benefit from these scholarships. That would be a big win, but it represents less than 4 percent of the roughly 55 million K-12 students in the US.
If we want to unleash education freedom for all, most of the magic needs to happen in the states. The vast majority of K-12 education funding – about 90 percent – comes from state and local sources.
Thankfully, power-hungry teachers unions overplayed their hand during the COVID era by fighting to keep schools closed as long as possible. These government school cartels held children’s education hostage to secure billions of dollars in ransom payments from taxpayers. After seeing left-wing indoctrination in the classroom during remote learning, parents were mobilized to fight for school choice.
Parents were right to be upset. A new nationally representative survey found that Critical Race Theory concepts are prevalent in schools. The Education Next survey from this year found that 36 percent of US high school students reported being taught “often” or “almost daily” that “America is a fundamentally racist nation.”
Because parents have awakened, we’ve seen more advancement on school choice in the past four years than in the preceding four decades. Zero states had universal school choice policies — meaning all families are eligible, regardless of income — before the teachers-union-induced school closures started in 2020. Now, 13 states have passed universal school choice.
Each of these 13 states passed universal school choice policies with Republican-controlled legislatures, which makes sense. Conservative parents are more likely to be upset about leftist indoctrination in public schools, and the Democratic Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the teachers unions who only want to protect their monopoly. In fact, 99.9% of the campaign contributions from Randi Weingarten’s union – the American Federation of Teachers – went to Democrats in the 2024 election cycle.
Red states are expected to continue leading the way on education freedom. Last month, Tennessee became the first state to go all-in on school choice in 2025, and the thirteenth overall. I expect more red states to follow suit this year.
The Texas Senate already passed a universal school choice bill by a vote of 19 to 12, with only one Republican joining each of the 11 Democrats in opposition.
President Trump posted in support of the bill’s passage and said that the “Texas House must now pass School Choice to deliver a gigantic Victory for Texas students and parents.” Mr. Trump added that he “will be watching them closely.”
Elon Musk agreed. He said, “I hope Dustin Burrows passes school choice in Texas to give kids a chance.”
The Republican Texas House Speaker, Dustin Burrows, responded to them both: “We will.”
Speaker Burrows also said this month that “the political winds have shifted” and that “the votes are there for universal school choice” in the Texas House. Mr. Burrows also voted for school choice last year and signed a pledge to pass universal school choice.
Texas would be the biggest win in the history of the school choice movement. About 10% of all K-12 students in the nation reside in Texas.
The Idaho House passed a universal school choice bill by a vote of 42 to 28 this month. Governor Brad Little also called to expand school choice during his official State of the State address. This is a big deal. Governor Little was endorsed by the teachers union in 2022 and used to be a school choice skeptic.
President Trump is watching Idaho’s bill, too. He endorsed it in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “Congratulations to Governor Brad Little, and Idaho Legislators, who are fighting to bring School Choice to their beautiful State,” Mr. Trump said. “This Bill, which has my Complete and Total Support, MUST PASS!”
The Idaho Senate is expected to vote on this bill Wednesday.
Wyoming’s House passed a universal school choice bill by a vote of 39 to 21 last month and it passed the Senate Education Committee this month. The state legislature passed a universal school choice bill last session, too, but the Republican Governor — Mark Gordon — line-item vetoed most of the bill so that only families from the lowest income category were ultimately eligible to participate.
That’s a shame — Governor Gordon shouldn’t be picking winners and losers. The good news is legislators are already back fighting for all parents, and the Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, Megan Degenfelder, is on board.
So is Donald Trump. On Sunday, the president endorsed the bill, saying that, “Every Member of the Wyoming Senate should vote for HB 199. I will be watching!”
New Hampshire has a shot at expanding its existing education savings account program to all families and North Dakota is in position to pass universal school choice as well. Notably, former North Dakota Governor, Doug Burgum, vetoed a school choice bill that made it to his desk last session because he said it didn’t go far enough. The state’s new Governor, Kelly Armstrong, included school choice in his official State of the State address last month.
North Dakota’s House of Representatives passed a universal school choice bill this month by a vote of 49 to 38. It now awaits a vote in the Senate.
Red states are engaging in friendly competition to empower all families with education freedom. Hopefully Democrats will read the tea leaves soon and support parents, not special interest control.
For far too long in education, the only special interests represented the adults in the system. But now, there’s a new sheriff in town: parents.
Parents are making their voices heard at the ballot box like never before. In fact, two nationwide surveys by America’s most accurate pollster found that Donald Trump was beating Kamala Harris on the issue of education leading up to Election Day, and exit polling found that Mr. Trump won the parent vote by nine points.
Democratic politicians would be wise to embrace school choice and be on the right side of history. They could chip away at the GOP advantage on education freedom and stop the bleeding of votes on the issue.
This realization by Democrats would help them win elections. But, more importantly, it would bring about the bipartisan school choice revolution needed to unleash education freedom in all 50 states.