The fairness case for a Christian education tax credit

CEN exists to make Christian education easier to reach and easier to afford. CEN SGO does that through a federal tax credit that lets donors redirect part of the tax they already owe into scholarships for K-12 Christian school students. A fair question is whether that's fair.

Families pay twice

A family that sends a child to a Christian school still pays for public schools. Their property, sales and income taxes fund the public system every year, like their neighbors'. Then they pay tuition on top.

For some families the second payment is manageable. For many it isn't. A household can believe deeply in a Christian education and still find the numbers don't work. That's the heart of the fairness question: these families fund schools they've chosen not to use, and they carry the full cost of the schooling they want.

What the credit changes, and what it doesn't

The credit gives donors a way to help. A donor makes a voluntary donation to a scholarship granting organization, which the organization gives to a student as a scholarship, and the donor can claim a dollar-for-dollar credit, up to $1,700 a year, against taxes they already owe. Those donations become scholarships for families who couldn't otherwise afford a Christian education.

It's a credit, not a deduction. A deduction lowers the income you're taxed on. A credit lowers the tax itself. That's why a donation, up to the limit, costs the donor nothing beyond the tax they already owed, as long as they owe at least that much.

What the credit doesn't do is take money from public schools. No tax money goes to private individuals or organizations. A voucher comes from public tax dollars. An SGO scholarship comes from private donations. One is the state spending. The other is generosity.

Who qualifies

Scholarships go to families in states that have joined the program, with household income at or below 300% of their area's median income. That limit reaches most families.

Not a partisan question

The fairness case doesn't depend on a view about public schools. Public schools serve most American children and will keep doing so. The question is narrower: when a family chooses something different for reasons of faith, should they carry the whole cost alone while still funding the system they left?

Tax-credit scholarships aren't new. Many states have run them for years. The federal credit, passed in 2025 and starting with the 2027 tax year, takes that approach nationwide.