Educational Choice for Children Act: Provides $10 billion in annual tax credits to incentivize private donations for K-12 education scholarships, expanding school choice without federal mandates.
Provide $10 billion in annual tax credits to incentivize donations for K-12 education scholarships, expanding school choice without federal mandates.
Occurrences
Evidence
The U.S. Departments of Education and Treasury released a joint fact sheet on the Education Freedom Tax Credit, created by President Trump's Working Families Tax Cuts Act. This program provides families with more affordable education options and is supported by nearly half of America's governors from both parties. As of January 27, 2026, 23 states have opted into the program, including West Virginia.
Senator Bill Cassidy introduced the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 (S.292) on January 29, 2025. The bill aims to amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for charitable donations to nonprofit organizations providing education scholarships to qualified elementary and secondary students. Senator James C. Justice is listed as one of the cosponsors.
Representative Adrian Smith introduced the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 (H.R.833) on January 31, 2025. The bill proposes amending the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for charitable donations to nonprofit organizations providing education scholarships to qualified elementary and secondary students.
Justice's official Senate release says he cosponsored the Educational Choice for Children Act and describes it as providing $10 billion in annual tax credits for private donations to K-12 scholarships without federal mandates.
The Department of Education page, last reviewed June 3, 2026, says President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill included the largest federal expansion of education freedom and directs readers to Treasury's Education Freedom Tax Credit information.
IRS says that beginning January 1, 2027, individual taxpayers may claim a Federal Scholarship Tax Credit for certain cash contributions up to $1,700 to Scholarship Granting Organizations; states must elect to participate and provide SGO lists. The participating-state list as of July 6, 2026 includes West Virginia.
IRS announced 27 states had elected to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which enables eligible taxpayers to claim a federal tax credit for qualified contributions to SGOs providing scholarships for elementary and secondary education expenses. IRS listed West Virginia among participating states.
Congress.gov records H.R.1 becoming Public Law No. 119-21 on July 4, 2025. Its CRS summary says Section 70411 establishes a nonrefundable tax credit of up to $1,700 for cash contributions to organizations that provide scholarships for qualified elementary and secondary school expenses.
The Senate roll-call page records H.R.1 passage on July 1, 2025, by a 50-50 vote with the Vice President voting yea; Senator Justice is listed as voting Yea.
S.292's text set a $10,000,000,000 volume cap for calendar year 2026 and each subsequent year and included provisions restricting governmental control over scholarship organizations and non-public schools.
Justice's Senate office said he cosponsored the Educational Choice for Children Act and described it as providing $10 billion in annual tax credits to incentivize private donations for K-12 education scholarships, expanding school choice without federal mandates.
Assessments
Justice cosponsored the Educational Choice for Children Act, which matched the promise's $10 billion annual K-12 scholarship donation tax-credit structure and no-federal-mandate framing, and he voted for H.R.1, which became law in July 2025. The enacted federal program delivers the core school-choice scholarship tax-credit mechanism and West Virginia is participating, but the final law is materially different from the promised $10 billion annual credit cap, using a taxpayer-level credit of up to $1,700. That supports partial fulfillment with same-term timing and credit for serious legislative effort.
Justice publicly cosponsored the Educational Choice for Children Act, which his Senate release described as providing $10 billion in annual tax credits for private donations to K-12 scholarships without federal mandates. The federal Education Freedom Tax Credit was later enacted and implemented, matching the core substance of the promise, so the pledge is substantively fulfilled in his current Senate term.
Sen. Justice cosponsored S.292 (Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025) and related House legislation was introduced, and a federal Education Freedom Tax Credit was established under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. The Departments of Education and Treasury fact sheet (Jan 27, 2026) shows the program was implemented and that West Virginia opted in along with other states. These actions created federal tax credits to incentivize donations for K–12 scholarships consistent with the promise’s substance. The evidentiary record confirms enactment and state opt-in during his term; the sources do not explicitly cite the exact $10 billion annual figure in the claim.