The Giving Review: After school choice, philanthropy and workforce development

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this month, American Federation for Children chief executive officer Tommy Schultz applauded the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, which takes effect in the 2027 tax year. The law allows individual taxpayers to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to eligible nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations.

The new credit, Schultz argues, will “turbocharge innovation and opportunity in American K-12 education” and unlock significant new funding for educational choice nationwide.

Philanthropy has played an important role in advancing school choice. Grants and contributions have helped fund scholarship initiatives, pilot programs, policy research, defenses against legal challenges, and public-education campaigns—all of which incrementally furthered the cause during the past several decades

Among the most-important contributors were Milton and Rose Friedman, John Walton and the Walton Family Foundation, the DeVos family’s charitable efforts, Milwaukee’s Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Pat Rooney’s CHOICE Trust. Their support sustained educational alternatives outside traditional public-school systems and helped transform school choice from a marginal reform proposal into a significant national movement.

By backing experimentation and empowering parents to make educational decisions for their children, these philanthropists helped expand opportunities for families seeking alternatives to assigned public schools.

As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, their efforts have helped reframe the debate. School choice is no longer simply a contest between reformers and defenders of public education. Increasingly, it is a discussion about how best to serve students and families with diverse needs and aspirations.

Schultz is correct that this is a significant moment for education. Yet the work is far from complete. There is more to be done. Much more.

The same philanthropic leadership that helped advance school choice can also help address another challenge facing American education: the growing disconnect between what many schools teach and the skills today’s economy demands.

A number of philanthropists have already begun addressing this issue by supporting career and technical education initiatives that prepare students for a broader range of postsecondary opportunities.

Promising examples include Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to connect high-school students with career pathways and technical training aligned with workforce needs. Earlier this year, the BlackRock Foundation launched a $100 million initiative to support vocational education and skilled-trades training. Likewise, the Mike Rowe Works Foundation has challenged the outdated assumption that vocational careers are inherently less valuable than white-collar professions.

Philanthropy helped lay the groundwork for the growth and success of the school-choice movement. Today, it can play a similarly important role in strengthening workforce development and expanding educational pathways that lead to economic opportunity.

The challenge now is not simply to give families more educational choices. It is also to ensure that those choices equip students for productive and rewarding lives after graduation.