Teachers unions are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to reverse plans to join the Trump administration's “school choice” program, warning the program will siphon students and money away from New York’s public schools.
The program, and New York's intention to participate in it, represents a major victory for those who have spent years lobbying for tuition vouchers under the banner of “school choice.”
“These credits have the potential to expand academic opportunity for public and private school students across our state without diverting resources from public schools or state and local budgets,” Jonah Allon, a spokesperson for Hochul, said in a statement on Wednesday. “All stakeholders should work together to ensure this program can be implemented to maximize benefits for all New York schools, including our public schools."
Echoing their long-held opposition to such programs, labor leaders said the tax credit would unfairly deprive the neediest students.
“ It is meant to actually take money out of public schools,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said at a press conference Wednesday.
Weingarten said that while private schools can skim off high-performing and wealthy students, students with disabilities, students learning English and students from high poverty backgrounds would be left behind.
“ Vouchers are about allowing private schools to pick and choose who they admit, leaving the most vulnerable children behind,” she said.
Congress passed the new tax credit last year as part of its legislative package that came to be known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It allows taxpayers to claim up to $1,700 in credits on their federal taxes for donations made to scholarship-granting nonprofit organizations. Trump administration officials have said those nonprofits can include private schools, after-school programs and organizations that support public schools.
Hochul, a Democrat who is running for re-election this year, signaled her interest in signing on to the program last spring during a meeting with leaders of Agudath Israel of America, a Jewish organization that supports religious education. She said at the time that she expected it would benefit New York parents, but that she was awaiting more information.
Under the federal legislation, families who earn up to 300% of the local area median income are eligible. In New York City, that works out to a cap of around $500,000.
The federal government is expected to release more details about the program later this month.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s teachers union, said that he hoped that Hochul would reconsider her support for the program, but said his union would not withdraw its support for her.
“We're just hoping that she continues to have an open mind and hears us,” Mulgrew said.
