Two weeks ago, in a hotel lobby outside Chicago, a superintendent from a set down her coffee and asked me the question I was hoping to hear. It was not about the money. "Jeff, your sign says exactly what I have been thinking. Washington has “tried” to help before. What’s the catch this time?" Is this constitutional? And if we accept it, what do they take from us? Behind both sits an instinct that has protected religious schools for a century. Nothing out of DC comes free. Let me answer both. First, the math. The Math That Is Squeezing These Schools Tuition at a private high school here in Pennsylvania now runs between $10,000 - $12,000, and potentially even higher in some places. There are more than a few hundred similar Catholic, and private religious schools throughout the state. Every one of them runs on thin margins and a financial aid budget that never seems to stretch far enough. Pennsylvania has, thankfully, done more than most states to help. The EITC and OSTC programs move real money and provide real support to our local communities. But that money is rationed. It comes from a limited pool of credits, and the pool runs dry every single year, while donors are still out there. The EFTC, on the other hand, does not run dry. It is permanent, uncapped, and designed to be funded by individual taxpayers, in and around your community. For a school on the margin, that is not simply an extended version of what already exists. This is a brand new funding stream, open to parents at any school in an opted-in state. The Two Questions, Answered On the Constitution, the answer is settled, and it is good news! An EFTC gift is a private charitable donation to a 501(c)(3) scholarship organization, not a government appropriation. As I wrote a few weeks back, the courts have upheld that distinction time and time again. It is a settled fact that faith-based schools cannot be excluded from a program like this one. Not merely permitted to participate. Treasury has also given us strong signals that state governments won’t be able to impose additional restrictions on SGOs or schools that participate as well.

I just spent four days in Chicago at the Partners in Mission National Advancement Summer Institute, in a room with more than 600 Catholic school leaders from across the country. I went to talk about the incredible impact that Tax Credits have had on Education in Pennsylvania, as well as our hopes for the Education Freedom Tax Credit. I left having talked with more than a hundred presidents, principals, and advancement directors, one conversation at a time, and I want to share the single most important thing I heard. It was not a question about Treasury rules (which are still pending) or opt-in deadlines. Instead, there was a major concern, and it surfaced again and again, usually phrased something like this: "This sounds great, but we do not have the major donors to make another program work." I understand the fear. But that understanding has the EFTC exactly backwards, which is part of what I find so exciting about this new program. Breadth, Not Big Gifts Here is the math that changes the conversation. 600 donors giving $1,700 each will generate approximately a million dollars in new scholarship money. Not six donors. Six hundred. Many of them are easily reachable within your current community and alumni network because this credit costs the donor nothing on net. The federal government returns the entire $1,700 contribution as a credit on the donor’s taxes. That changes the ask completely. You are not asking anyone to part with or give up their money. Instead, the ask is that they redirect money they already owe the IRS to children at your school instead. That is a conversation you can have with almost anyone: a parent, a grandparent, an alum, a parishioner, the owner of the hardware store or coffee shop down the street. Anyone and everyone with federal tax liability is a potential donor. Your Community Is Your Advantage Chalkbeat ran a piece this week suggesting that this credit could require enormous marketing spending, highlighting that one major school choice group estimated it might cost over $300, to persuade each individual taxpayer to give. The reason is simple: when considering this program on a national scale, it seems as if we have to convince millions of strangers, one by one.

Our marketing team is amazing. Look for me in the video.😀

Good morning! This is the first post in our tax credit scholarship Community. We are currently at the Partners in Mission Summer Conference in Chicago networking with Catholic schools from acroos the country.