Continuing the push for federal school choice tax credits

Recently, we wrote a post in which we outlined how Gov. Lujan Grisham seems to be willing to consider joining the federal school choice tax credit program set up in 2025 under President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Although not ALL details are confirmed the tax credit is $1,700 and could be used for various schools of choice.

GOP Rep. Rebecca Dow recently sent a letter to Lujan Grisham in which she laid out a compelling case in support of New Mexico participating in the law. The Albuquerque Journal covered that and quoted the unions in opposition (no surprise there):

Whitney Holland, the president of the American Federation of Teachers union in New Mexico, said this week she was planning to reach out to the Lujan Grisham administration with information from the national union.

“From our point of view, it’s a disastrous program,” said Holland, who said the federal program could specifically disenfranchise students in rural New Mexico communities that lack school choice options.

This opposition is rich considering that the US Department of Education amounts to just 4% of the federal budget and less than half of that money even goes to K-12 education. That’s because most education funding is done at the state, not federal level. The unions don’t like ANY competition at all because they and their politician friends in New Mexico have destroyed the education system  and don’t want to see ANY competition or way out.

Finally, Rep. Dow, RGF, and other education advocates are NOT alone. The Catholic Archbishops of New Mexico recently sent the following letter to the Gov. advocating in support of the tax credit. MLG is a graduate of St. Michael’s HS in Santa Fe (a Catholic School). Yet, while benefitting personally from a Catholic education she has been allied with the unions throughout her time in office leading New Mexico to its abysmal 52nd ranking in the NAEP. On the other hand, if Catholic schools were considered a state, they would rank first in the nation in NAEP reading and math for 4th and 8th graders. 

You can send the Gov. a letter of support for the program here.