The network will be expanding with eight state affiliates after receiving a grant to expand its education model across the country. Advocates see the announcement as a win for school choice. 

Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue recently announced that its Christian Education Network initiative will be expanding with eight state affiliates. 

According to the Center for Christian Value’s website, education and school choice make up one of the organization’s pillars. The group advocates for school choice and giving parents the primary authority to make decisions about their child’s education, not the government. 

Ohio’s tuition tax credit was designed in part by the Center for Christian Virtue. It allows a flier to redirect part of what they already owe the state to a child’s tuition instead. 

The historic announcement comes after the center received a $100,000 grant to support its Education Restoration Initiative and expand its education model to additional states in the U.S. through the newly announced affiliates. 

According to the center, the state affiliates include the Alaska Family Policy, the Frontline Policy in Georgia, the Indiana Family Institute, The Family Foundation in Kentucky, the Massachusetts Family Institute, the Pennsylvania Family Council, and The Family Foundation of Virginia. 

The announcement said that the affiliates “will organize and equip Christian schools to engage policymakers, defend their ability to operate according to their beliefs, and advocate for policies that give parents greater control over where and how their children are educated.” Advocates see this as a win for school choice. 

Aaron Baer, the president of the Center for Christian Virtue, said in a recent interview that the affiliates will act “as partners in states all over the country to help us recruit” and “help Christian schools maximize the opportunity to reach more kids.”

Ohio’s Christian education model will be implemented in the eight additional states through the new affiliates. 

“What we’re really doing is we’re taking the Ohio model of the Ohio Christian Education Network, and we’re setting it up in states all over the country,” Baer said in the recent interview. 

Baer also spoke about the influence of the federal school choice tax credit in the recent interview. The tax credit was an important provision in President Trump’s landmark legislation H.R. 1, the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. 

“We’re seeing a huge growth in kids leaving the public education system and accessing a high-quality Christian education. And now, because of this new federal school choice tax credit, we’re able to help other states replicate this model,” he said. 

Baer added that the center is “expecting to have many more [states join] over the next few months.”