Michael Q. McShane, Director of National Research at EdChoice, has expressed strong support for the Education Choice for Children Act (ECCA), describing it as "the best" option for federal school choice legislation. He made this statement in a blog post for EdChoice.
"ECCA is probably the best piece of federal choice legislation we've seen," said McShane, Director of National Research, Author. "By creating a federal tax credit administered by the IRS rather than the Department of Education, it is designed to avoid the micromanagement that critics of federal involvement in choice have fretted about in the past. There is much to recommend in ECCA. It is $10 billion in credits, which could translate to north of one million scholarships. It has multiple useful provisions related to the equitable distribution of tax credits from state to state and flexibility in who can operate scholarship granting organizations, what they can fund, and who can receive scholarships."
According to McShane, education policy experts convened at a panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute to evaluate the potential of advancing federal school choice legislation through budget reconciliation. The focus of the discussion was the ECCA, a proposed $10 billion federal tax credit program aimed at expanding educational options by funding scholarships through non-governmental organizations. Panelists, including Lindsay Fryer from Lodestone DC and John Schilling from 2020 Strategies, outlined the strategic and procedural challenges involved in passing such legislation in a Congress that is narrowly divided and where traditional legislative routes are often blocked by the Senate filibuster.
McShane said that ECCA’s strategy—using the IRS to administer tax credits instead of the Department of Education—seeks to avoid concerns about federal overreach. The bill's success depends on how the Senate Parliamentarian interprets the Byrd Rule, which limits non-budgetary provisions in reconciliation bills. Fryer indicated that much of ECCA could withstand this scrutiny; however, any provision considered too policy-oriented might be removed, threatening key aspects of the proposal.
Passing the ECCA bill is not guaranteed, McShane said. Both chambers of Congress must first reach an agreement to include ECCA in the reconciliation framework and secure approval from the Parliamentarian for its components. The likelihood of each step aligning is low, with even minor reductions in probability significantly decreasing chances of success. "As anyone who has sweat out a March Madness four-leg parlay will tell you, getting the dominoes to all fall together can be tough," he said. As legislative proceedings continue, supporters may need to decide which parts of ECCA are vital and which can be compromised.
Dr. Michael Q. McShane serves as Director of National Research at EdChoice and is an adjunct fellow in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He has authored and edited twelve books on education policy, including "Getting Education Right" (2024) and "Hybrid Homeschooling" (2021), focusing on K–12 education policy.
