The path to a nationwide private school choice program got steeper on Friday morning after a technicality forced Republican lawmakers to strike the proposal—for now—from a massive legislative package Congress is racing to finish as soon as next week.
As part of ongoing negotiations over the sweeping package of tax cuts and budget changes pushed by President Donald Trump, lawmakers on Capitol Hill in recent weeks have been advancing proposals to annually invest either $4 billion or $5 billion in full federal tax-credit refunds for individual and corporate donors to organizations that pay for K-12 students to attend private schools.
The legislation would effectively create a nationwide program of publicly funded private school subsidies like the ones currently offered in many Republican-led states.
The House approved the $5 billion version of the proposal on May 22 as part of the broader legislative package known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.” But on June 27, the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan official who enforces Senate rules, nixed that provision from the chamber’s version of the package, saying it would need a 60-vote supermajority to pass.
Under the Senate’s “Byrd rule,” only “budget reconciliation” policies solely focused on fiscal issues can be approved with a simple majority. Elizabeth MacDonough, who has served as parliamentarian since 2012, has cited that rule in rejecting a slew of provisions in the Big Beautiful Bill over the last week—prompting at least one Senate Republican to call for her firing.
MacDonough doesn’t meet with lobbyists, rarely sits for interviews, and doesn’t publicly explain the rationale behind her rulings, which are non-binding. Her office didn’t return a request for comment in time for publication.
Federal investment in private school choice isn’t dead yet
Senate Republicans who support private school choice have at least three immediate options for moving forward.
They could appeal the parliamentarian’s decision; present new text for the proposal for another round of consideration; or vote to waive the Byrd Rule that made the program—along with dozens of others in the legislative package—ineligible.
Getting 60 votes to overrule the parliamentarian—or to approve the private school choice measure as a standalone bill—would be virtually impossible with only 53 Republican members.
Senate Republicans did ignore a parliamentarian ruling once earlier this year, voting 51-44 to roll back a federal emissions waiver for California even though MacDonough had ruled that the move required 60 votes. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday he won’t overrule the parliamentarian on the Big Beautiful Bill.
Appealing MacDonough’s ruling or rewriting the policy to satisfy it aren’t guaranteed to work. And those actions would take time lawmakers might not have as Trump continues to push for a version of the package to pass before the July 4 holiday.
Spokespeople for Thune, as well as Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who chairs the Senate finance committee; and Bill Cassidy, R-La., who led the introduction of the private school choice legislation, didn’t return requests for comment on their plans in time for publication.
Private school choice momentum is growing, but challenges remain
The parliamentarian’s dismissal of the federal private school choice tax credit marks the second significant setback for private school choice this week.
On Tuesday, a judge in Ohio ruled in a lawsuit brought by 200 school districts that the state’s universal school voucher program, known as EdChoice, violates the state constitution—setting the stage for a court battle likely to end up before the state supreme court.
”...the state may not fund private schools at the expense of public schools or in a manner that undermines its obligation to public education,” wrote Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page on June 24.
Ohio invested nearly $1 billion in 2024 to cover between $6,000 and $8,000 in private school tuition for each of the nearly 90,000 students in the EdChoice program. All 1.9 million K-12 students in the state are eligible to participate.
Page’s verdict marks the third court ruling nullifying a private school choice program in the last 12 months, following similar verdicts from a Utah judge and the South Carolina supreme court.
Even with those setbacks, the GOP-led push to let families use public dollars to pay for private educational options has experienced significant and unprecedented state-level victories this year. Idaho, South Carolina, and Texas approved new programs, while eligibility for existing programs expanded to all K-12 students in Indiana, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Wyoming.
Thirty states and the District of Columbia currently have private school choice programs, according to Education Week’s private school choice tracker. Nineteen of those states allow all K-12 students to apply or are on track to in the coming years.
As of December 2024, more than 1 million K-12 students nationwide were taking advantage of vouchers, education savings accounts, direct tax credits, and tax-credit scholarships, according to EdChoice, the leading nationwide advocacy organization for those programs.
Private school choice hasn’t been universally embraced, however, even in Republican-controlled places.
Republican-majority legislatures in Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota all failed to approve new or expanded private school choice programs this year despite considering numerous proposals. Lawmakers balked at the price tag for new investments, and the mismatch between these programs and rural locales, which often lack private school options for parents to choose.
Last November, voters in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska decisively rejected ballot measures endorsing private school choice programs. In Kentucky, a majority of voters in all 130 counties voted against amending the state constitution to explicitly mention private school choice.
Court challenges to private school choice are still playing out in Arkansas, Montana, and Wyoming. Critics of private school choice in Idaho have teased a lawsuit to come.
