Some education advocates in Michigan urged Governor Gretchen Whitmer Thursday to decline participation in a new federal tax credit for making donations to scholarship programs.
Starting next year, people can qualify for a new tax credit, up to $1,700, if they donate to an pre-approved scholarship program for K through 12 students.
Families that are eligible to receive those scholarships must be at or below 300% of the area's median gross income.
Pamela Pugh, the president of the State Board of Education in Michigan, said the overwhelming majority of schools that have scholarship programs are private, so it's likely that's where most of the money would go.
And because the income limit for scholarship recipients is generous, private schools could be in a better position to gain students, at the expense of public schools.
Pugh said the tax credit is really a voucher program, designed to weaken public schools by transferring tax dollars to more affluent families to lower the cost of attending private schools.
"So instead of asking, 'how can public schools get a piece of a voucher money,' we should be asking, 'why aren't we fully funding the public schools that educate our children in the first place,'" she said.
The nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the tax credit could reduce federal revenue by about $26 billion over 10 years.
The Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, also opposes opting into the program.
The group said public schools are unlikely to be able to get any of the scholarship funds, since by law, they already provide essential services at no cost.
"For public schools to see any significant revenue as a provider of eligible services under the federal voucher program, they would need to begin charging fees to students for services not mandated by state law. Doing so is incompatible with the mission, purpose, and role of public schools in our communities," the MEA said in a statement.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she is waiting to obtain full guidance from the U.S. Treasury before making a decision on opting in.
Republican leaders and Trump administration officials have been pushing her to join the program for months.
Republican gubernatorial candidate John James, a metro Detroit congressman, supports the tax credit.
"I want to make sure our parents have the resources they need and opting into the Education Freedom tax credit is priority one for me,” he told reporters last week.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, currently Michigan's secretary of state, said in a statement that she is open to any policy that gets more resources into state schools.
"But let’s be clear," the statement continues, "Donald Trump is not being transparent about where the money from this program will go or how it will improve educational outcomes. As governor, I can’t commit taxpayer dollars to a program under Trump’s control with zero transparency or assurance it will deliver for Michigan students. That’s reckless and irresponsible."
Benson's statement added she is highly skeptical of the program's design and intent.
“The Trump administration has not even released final guidance for the implementation of this program, and frankly everything we’ve seen from this administration tells us we cannot simply take them at their word when it comes to doing right by our students, parents, and teachers."
In June, the IRS said more than half of states had chosen to opt in to the tax credit program.
