Virginia Democrat Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger will face a major challenge to her carefully curated “moderate” charade immediately after taking office in the form of a Trump administration scholarship program that expands school choice for participating states. Early indicators suggest Spanberger is likely to withdraw Virginia from the initiative to appease Democrat allies and teachers’ union bosses – a move that could seriously undermine her credibility with parents.
As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) which President Donald Trump signed into law last July, the federal government is establishing a Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) program, also known as the Education Freedom Tax Credit, to empower more families to access education options that work best for them.
FSTC allows individual taxpayers to claim a nonrefundable, dollar-for-dollar federal income tax credit for donations to qualified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). The SGOs then distribute that money to students, who can use it for tuition, tutoring, educational therapies for students with disabilities, and other education-related services.
While FSTC is available nationwide, states must opt-in to the program and recognize qualified SGOs. On January 1, outgoing Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin made Virginia the first state to opt in to the program.
“Virginia is proud to lead the nation once again as the first state to opt in to the Education Freedom Tax Credit,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This decision expands school choice for families across the Commonwealth by opening access to federally tax credit-funded scholarships, empowering parents and helping ensure students, especially those with the greatest needs, can choose the learning environment that is right for them.”
Nearly half of states have similar programs in place, including Virginia, although their reach is limited in some cases, according to Ed Choice. FSTC would greatly expand school choice and educational opportunities for millions of students. At least six other states have already followed Virginia’s lead in opting in to the program, while three states, Wisconsin, Oregon, and New Mexico, have opted out.
However, the Treasury Department is still finalizing regulations surrounding the new program, which means that Youngkin’s announcement is not binding. It will be up to Spanberger to follow through on enrolling Virginia in FSTC.
Keeping Youngkin’s decision in place would seemingly be an easy victory for Spanberger, as the new school choice policy would not cost the state a dime. It would also provide extra help to Virginia students in need of tutoring or specialized education – something Spanberger emphasized during her campaign last year.
Moreover, from a political perspective, remaining in a Trump program that objectively helps students would be an easy way for Spanberger to bolster her reputation – whether earned or not – as a “moderate” Democrat. Another Democrat Governor, Jared Polis of Colorado, has already opted in, giving Spanberger the talking point that the program is bipartisan.
However, Spanberger is already facing pressure to withdraw Virginia from FSTC, and it appears as if she isn’t going to put up much of a fight. Democrat state senator Schuyler VanValkenburg accused Youngkin of being “incredibly irresponsible,” in opting in. “He doesn’t even know what he’s signing us into,” VanValkenburg complained.
The Virginia Education Association (VEA), which endorsed Spanberger and has been critical of Youngkin, also came out against the school choice policy. The VEA represents public school teachers and opposes programs that would help students access high-quality private schools. “This is an outrageous, last-minute political stunt by an outgoing governor,” union president Carol Bauer told the media.
The teachers’ union opposed the policy from its inception, admitting that more students would leave public schools if they had the option to do so. VEA reportedly expects 50,000 more students would leave their public school or never enroll in the first place if given the opportunity.
This would be a roughly 50 percent increase in private school enrollment, as around 112,000 Virginians are currently in private schools – about nine percent of all students. “In Virginia, like most states, education funding is tied to enrollment – when enrollment drops, state, local, and federal aid and other support can drop,” the union lamented in July, soon after the OBBB passed.
These figures only further illustrate the need for greater school choice in the first place. Opponents of the FSTC program are implicitly admitting that government policy is the only thing keeping many kids in public schools that have seen plummeting test scores and worse educational outcomes for years.
Democrat leaders in the state also previously opposed a similar plan by Governor Youngkin to create a $50 million school choice program. “We will never agree to take money from public schools to provide vouchers for private schools,” Democrat state senator Louise Lucas, a prominent Youngkin critic, said last year. “We know what it is, no matter what name is used to market it.”
Spanberger, who will take the oath of office on January 17, is in a bind. On the one hand, she could help tens of thousands of Virginia students access high-quality education that gives them a better chance to succeed – thus delivering for parents and the people who voted her into office. But in doing so, she would invite the ire of her compatriots in her party and in the teachers’ union, two key allies for passing her own agenda.
All signs suggest that Spanberger will opt out of the school choice program, which could create an opportunity for Republicans in the next elections in Virginia in 2027.
Spanberger’s dilemma is one facing Democrats nationwide. The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have advanced some programs and policies that are broadly popular with the public, but which progressive partisans and liberal special interests reflexively oppose. Democrats need the support of both groups to win and maintain power. Keeping them both happy, however, has become an increasingly perilous tightrope act.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
