Gov. Kathy Hochul finalized New York’s opt-in to President Donald Trump’s Education Freedom tax credit program on Oct. 9. The decision was tentative in May 2026 when Hochul said the state would have to review the Treasury Department’s guidelines regarding the tax credit, which was published on Oct. 1.
The Education Freedom tax credit allows any individual person who donates to approved scholarship granting organizations to deduct their donation amount from their income tax, up to $1,700 for single filers and $3,400 for couples—this opportunity is a path that can be easily abused.
The bishops from the New York State Catholic Conference thanked Hochul for the decision in a letter.“Rather than sending this money out of state, she has chosen to keep it in New York to help New York’s kids,” they wrote.
In fact, the New York diaspora of Catholics aren’t the only religious sect supportive of the credit. Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote, “while details will be finalized by federal officials, the potential financial impact on Jewish day schools and the families enrolled in them could be substantial.
Paul Bernstein, CEO of the Jewish day school support network Prizmah, said the average scholarship award is expected to be “quite meaningful.”
Bernstein continued, “We believe that many Jewish day schools across the country will eventually cover a majority of their scholarship needs through the program.”
The credit is school funding as a free-for-all battle royale. Since the tax credit is open to any SGOs which have the state’s favor, and established groups like the New York State Catholic Conference or Prizmah, must race to set up their SGOs to fundraise under the same incentive in the same space, effectively bringing business to the fiscal side of education; an aspect already understood as school choice groups already have marketing concerns.
School choice, in particular, negatively effects equality in education.
Instead of encouraging organizations facing vulnerability, Trump’s credit creates a test of who has more or less internal red tape than others.
Nicole Pollock, president of Democrats for Education Reform said, “a student in the Bronx can get the speech therapy or counseling her school can’t afford to provide, now the work starts to get these dollars to the families who need them.”
That is the catch, the student only gets money if an existing Bronx community opened a SGO, fundraised for it and got popular enough that people donate and apply. It isn’t guaranteed that the credit will benefit the vulnerable. SGOs are not held under discrimination regulations. The City Reporter wrote, “Hochul will not be able to pick which groups can or can’t receive the funding, or prevent scholarship groups from discriminating on the basis of religion or LGBTQ status.
Nor can she require that the scholarships can only benefit students from low-income backgrounds. Families earning up to 300% of area median income qualify to participate.”
New York State United Teachers, United Federation of Teachers and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urgently petitioned Hochul not to opt-in.
UFT’s President Michael Mulgrew said, “Giving up local control of public education to the federal government through the Trump administration’s private school voucher scheme is a failure of leadership. Hochul will bear the responsibility, but our students, educators and families will bear the price.”