The scholarship aims to provide more public funding towards school choice in Ohio.
In the latest win for school choice in Ohio, an advocacy group has created a scholarship program that would allow donors to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal income tax break.
The Center for Christian Virtue is a public policy organization that advocates for a network of private schools. The group created a federal scholarship granting organization (SGO) that allows donors to receive a federal income tax credit.
SGOs were created by the Ohio General Assembly in 2021. The donations provide students with scholarships to reduce tuition while giving donors a state income tax credit.
The new scholarship created by the Center for Christian Virtue will provide more public funding for school choice. It is the first federal SGO announced in Ohio. Until now, the state only had state-level SGOs.
President Trump has been a major supporter of school choice while in office. His landmark legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, allows donors to contribute to SGOs to receive income tax credits called an Education Freedom Tax Credit. The tax credits can be up to $1,700 beginning in 2027.
Donations towards the Center for Christian Virtue’s program will go to students in any state that has opted into participating in the federal tax credit program. Ohio and 29 other states have opted in.
“This is a defining moment for Christian education in America. For the first time, families can take money they already owe to the federal government and redirect it into scholarships that fund a Christ-centered education,” said Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue, in a statement announcing the new SGO.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican frontrunner in the race for Ohio’s next governor, has made education as one of his key campaign platforms.
“See today, the average student in Ohio and in the United States is a full four years behind the average student in China. That’s unacceptable. We’re gonna have to turn that ship around for our country, and I think we here in Ohio have a special opportunity to do it by bringing standards back to our public schools, by taking our school choice programs to the next level, because every parent deserves to be able to send their kids to the best possible school,” he said last year during a campaign event.
The announcement of the first federal SGO in Ohio further supports school choice for parents and students across the state.
