The Catholic Church teaches that parents are the first and primary teachers of their children and therefore have the right to select the best educational environment for their children. This was also affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) one hundred years ago in Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), a landmark decision that struck down an Oregon statute that required all children to attend public school. Unfortunately, the court was silent on the means to help parents exercise that right.
Over the past century, legislation introduced at state and federal levels proposed choice options for parents to use if the school in their assigned zip code did not meet their needs—but most failed until recent years. With decisions rendered by SCOTUS during the past two decades, Zelman v. Harris (2002), Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017), Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020) and Carson v. Makin (2022), the court upheld public financing options for parental choice for schooling that includes faith-based options.
These decisions have led to a significant expansion of school choice options so today 29 states and the District of Columbia have at least one private school choice program: 21 states with tax-credit scholarships, 16 with education savings accounts, 10 states and the District of Columbia with a voucher program and three with tax-credit education savings accounts.
School choice empowers parents to choose the educational environment that best fits their child’s needs. At this moment, a promising national parental choice program has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) is a bill that provides a federal income tax credit incentive for individuals and corporations to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education. In the Senate, it is S. 292, and the House bill is H.R. 817. With $10 billion in annual tax credits to be made available to taxpayers, an estimated two million students in any elementary or secondary education setting, including homeschooling, are eligible to receive a scholarship. Eligible use of scholarships includes tuition, fees, curriculum, books, online educational materials, tutoring and educational therapies for students with disabilities.
The ECCA includes these provisions:
The U.S. Treasury Department sets a base dollar amount of the $10B credits for taxpayers in each state and then distributes the credits directly to taxpayers on a first-come, firstserved basis. If taxpayers in a state do not use the available allotment, it will be offered to taxpayer donors in any state on a first-come, first-serve basis. States do not have to opt in to the program—the Treasury administers it.
The U.S. Treasury Department would distribute tax credits equal to the size of the donation and allow donors whose tax liability is less than their credit to carry forward any unused tax credits for up to five years.
Eligibility for ECCA scholarships extends to students in all states to families earning 300% or below the median income in their area. Families apply directly to a scholarship-granting organization (SGO). The maximum scholarship dollar amount is determined by each scholarship organization.
The goal of ECCA is clear: to expand opportunities for families to exercise their right to direct the educational environment for their children. That is not, should not be, a partisan issue. It utilizes a limited government approach that respects federalism, avoids mandates on states, localities, school districts and SGOs and protects religious liberty and private school autonomy. Nonetheless, some critics and opponents employ the usual rhetoric about diverting billions of dollars away from public schools that would undermine public education or weaken the separation of church and state.
Beware of false claims that the bill is a federal law that will come with strings attached. ECCA does not create a new federal education bill or agency and does not interfere with states’ rights. There is no role for the U.S. Department of Education and no new federal spending or government mandates on states, school districts, private schools or families. ECCA uses private donations, not public funds, which protect against government infringement of religious liberty or independence or autonomy of the school. It also prohibits governmental control over SGOs that receive tax-credited contributions, schools that enroll scholarship recipients or parents who instruct their children at home.
There are more than 150 national and state-based organizations and influencers fighting for families who have endorsed the ECCA, including the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) and other members of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE). There is strong, well-financed opposition to the bill, primarily from the teacher’s unions and the Democratic Party leadership. These are well-organized organizations that have large amounts of money to spend on oppositional activities with legislators and the public. The private school sector must step up its game and become more proactive in publicizing the benefits to all families, not just those whose children are in private and faith-based schools.
These are a few suggestions:
Frame conversations about ECCA in a non-partisan manner. Not all Democrats oppose it and not all Republicans support it—speak to both parties with the focus on their constituent families and how they will benefit. Reach out to all, avoiding political labeling.
Prepare your local school community to advocate for ECCA. Work with the Catholic school superintendents on collaborative efforts to reach parents and the local school community, neighbors, businesses and school sponsors with organized activities to let their representatives know they are constituents who support the bill.
Call or visit the local office of your congressperson and register your support for the bill and ask for an affirmative vote. Bring a group of parents to the office.
Prepare some talking points about ECCA and ask the pastor to put them in the parish bulletin and call attention to it in the weekly Mass announcements.
Use social media to broadcast a short message alerting the public and the editors of the local or community news outlets describing the benefits of ECCA for all families and dispute false narratives about the bill.
Alert the state Catholic Conference that you support ECCA and ask them to work with state legislators to use their influence with their federal counterparts.
NCEA and its collaborators in federal advocacy for private education have been meeting with congressional staff to make them aware of the importance of ECCA for all families and will continue to do so until the bills are passed. This appears to be a fast-moving priority for the administration and Linda McMahon, the new U.S. Secretary of Education, so early advocacy from all our NCEA members is crucial. For decades NCEA has supported parents’ rights to choose the best educational option for their children. In the official policy position adopted by the NCEA Board of Directors, the association “encourages Catholic school educators to collaborate with Catholic and other religious leaders, with civic and business leaders and with all those who support full and fair educational choice in a partnership for justice.” This is the moment to do so!
Sister Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D.is the vice president of public policy for NCEA.
McDonald@ncea.org