Teachers unions and the NAACP press Hochul to "opt out right now" of the federal tax-credit scholarship she plans to join in 2027; her office says she still supports it and is waiting on Treasury rules due this month to check for "poison pills"
At UFT headquarters on Sept. 16, AFT president Randi Weingarten, UFT president Michael Mulgrew, NYSUT president Melinda Person, lawmakers and NAACP representatives urged Hochul to reverse the plan she announced in May (first to Agudath Israel) to opt New York into the federal tax-credit scholarship created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The program, effective January 2027, gives donors a dollar-for-dollar federal credit up to $1,700 for gifts to scholarship-granting organizations that can fund private tuition, tutoring and other costs; governors must opt in. Unions launched a petition and argue private schools can pick students and that families up to 300% of area median income qualify. Hochul spokesperson Jonah Allon said the governor wants the credit "to benefit all New York students" and noted it does not draw on state or local budgets; a Sept. 10 letter from 37 anti-poverty groups and charter leaders backs opting in. Thirty states have opted in per the IRS; Colorado's Jared Polis is the only Democratic governor to do so. Most groups at the rally support Hochul's reelection.