Despite months of former governor Glenn Youngkin (R) touting his decision to enroll Virginia in a new federal school voucher program, a recent letter from the IRS revealed that his administration did not complete the process, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post, and his successor will reverse Youngkin’s decision.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) will not finish the process to join the initiative, a spokesperson for her office told The Post in a statement.
The letter, which was sent by IRS acting chief counsel Kevin Salinger to Spanberger’s office in late October and has not been previously reported, said Virginia did not complete a mandatory second step to enroll in the program because a portal to submit a list of scholarship-granting organizations was not available at the time Youngkin’s administration started the process.
“As made clear by the IRS, former Governor Youngkin — whose endeavors since leaving office include touting the Commonwealth’s involvement in this federal program — did not actually enter Virginia into the program,” the spokesperson for Spanberger told The Post. “The Spanberger Administration, at this point, does not believe this program would benefit students in public schools, and the Commonwealth will not be participating this year.”
Spanberger will monitor the program, dubbed the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, to “assess its impacts on students, families, and schools in other states,” the spokesperson said.
Zack Roday, an adviser to Youngkin, said in a statement to The Post that Youngkin was the “first in the country to complete the official form” and called Spanberger a “roadblock.”
“Spanberger’s apparent reluctance to bring this opportunity to life for 1.4 million Virginia K-12 students is a betrayal to her voters,” Roday said. “The groups — including organizations prioritizing public school kids — are ready for her to file the official State SGO list which is the final step in the process. She can and should do that today.”
The program, which will become the nation’s first federally funded school voucher program when it launches in full in 2027, was created by last year’s Republican tax and spending bill. It is poised to direct billions of tax dollars to private schools and, perhaps, to public school students.
The program is intended to provide a dollar-for-dollar credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, or SGOs. Those organizations will then pass along the money to eligible families, who can use the cash to pay for tuition and other school-related costs.
Taxpayers can get all the money they donated back as a credit when they file their federal taxes — up to $1,700 for individuals and $3,400 for married couples.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the program will cost the federal government $26 billion over 10 years.
The program was designed to primarily benefit students attending private schools, but SGOs may also be set up to help pay out-of-pocket expenses for public school students, such as tutoring and school supplies, which has complicated the politics for some Democrats, who generally oppose voucher programs.
Just a handful of Democratic governors have said they will participate in the program. Youngkin, who has said he was the first governor in the nation to opt in, has spent the past several months urging state leaders to do the same.
To enroll in the program, governors must complete a two-step process: submit an election and then upload a list of SGOs to an IRS portal. The portal went live Oct. 23, according to the letter.
“The IRS agrees that Virginia has not perfected its advance election submitted by the prior gubernatorial administration,” the letter says.
As of November, 32 governors have opted in, according to a tracker by Democrats for Education Reform, which is encouraging more states to participate.
Supporters say the federal tax credit program will give more families the option to choose the best school for their child. Youngkin, in an interview with Fox News, said the program could unlock “hundreds of millions of dollars” for all students, including children with disabilities who may need expensive, specialized services.
“This unlocks huge opportunity for American kids,” he said.
But some Democrats argue that the federal program, like state-level programs that send public dollars to private schools, will siphon students and funding away from public districts.
Opponents of vouchers note that private schools are not held to the same accountability standards as public schools — teachers are not required to be licensed, they do not have to give standardized tests to track student progress, and they can choose not to accept students based on their religion, LGBTQ status or other factors.
Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.
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