Critics say Massachusetts missing out on chance to lift education

Colin A. Young | SHNS

From her leading political opponent to a fellow Democrat who helped lead the state for six years, there's pressure mounting on Gov. Maura Healey to decide whether to opt Massachusetts into a new federal tax credit that people could claim for making donations to organizations that distribute K–12 education scholarships.

The Internal Revenue Service announced this week that 27 other states have signed up to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which was created in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act and takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. Lobbying for the Bay State's participation has come from Republican lawmakers; the Pioneer Institute, a think tank that supports school choice policies; and more recently from former Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce he leads.

And in an election year wrinkle, one of the loudest voices calling on Healey to opt in has been Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue, who has claimed that he and his wife were instrumental in getting the policy enshrined in federal law.

"About 80% of the parents that have kids will qualify for these grants. But the one caveat is the governor has to opt in to get this benefit. And you'd say, 'Why would the governor not opt in? Why would she turn away billions of dollars that's going to go to D.C. if we don't keep it?' It's because the problem we have today with politicians is they put party politics over the people," Minogue said in March during an appearance on SouthCoast Now. "I will opt in on day one and the governor currently could opt in right now. Other governors are opting in. And so if she really is going to do it, she would do it now. She wouldn't wait."

Minogue went further, telling the radio audience that if Healey opts Massachusetts into the tax credit program he will "give her a max donation to her campaign."

"I'm still going to run against her and win. But I would love to see that both of us agree that the federal scholarship tax credit and giving parents more choice and putting a billion dollars-plus into the kids, into the the parents' choice and also benefiting the teachers is something we both agree with," he said.

Healey's office referred questions Wednesday to the Executive Office of Education. A spokesman for the executive office said the administration is waiting on guidance from the U.S. Treasury and Department of Education. The Treasury on Wednesday previewed its guidance on implementation and said it expects to issue proposed regulations by the end of September.

To claim the credit of up to $1,700, a taxpayer must contribute to a scholarship granting organization located in a state that has opted into the program and has submitted a list of qualified organizations. The scholarship granting organizations would then distribute that money as scholarship aid.

In other media appearances, Minogue has described the types of organizations that would benefit from donations. In doing so, he's suggested that Massachusetts opting in would both advance a policy he personally championed and could direct additional money toward institutions he and his family support and are connected to.

"My wife and I, through the Mike and Renee Minogue Foundation, we've helped build schools, we support schools, faith-based schools including charter schools ... we were able to create the federal scholarship tax credit. So, my wife and I helped make it a federal law," he said in an appearance this spring with the Newton Taxpayers Association. "And what it will do is it will allow dollars to stay in Massachusetts if people give their tax dollars to scholarship-granting organizations. They can be charter schools, they can be Catholic Schools Foundation, they can be private schools, it can even be tutoring and things for homeschooling to public schools."

Minogue's wife, Renee, serves on the board of the Catholic Schools Foundation "where she works to expand access to excellent education across Massachusetts," according to his campaign. The foundation describes itself as "the largest K-12 scholarship granting organization in Massachusetts granting aid to low-income students to attend Catholic elementary and high school in the Archdiocese of Boston."

Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President Tim Murray got in on the lobbying last month, both at the lobby day for the Massachusetts affiliate of the Council for American Private Education and in a YouTube video posted as part of a chamber of commerce series. He said the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce was "the first business association in Massachusetts to come out in support of" the federal scholarship tax credit.

"Massachusetts has long been a leader in education, but we're also seeing concerning trends in student outcomes and scores that threatens Massachusetts' number one standard on a number of fronts. So we need to bring additional resources to help strengthen our educational position," Murray said in the video, estimating that the tax credit could generate $660 million annually in Massachusetts.

Murray added, "We know that there are budget challenges ahead that we'll be facing here in Massachusetts, and some of those are a result of some of the things we don't like about the Big Beautiful Bill. That's why it's even more critical that we do everything we can to bring dollars back to support and augment a whole myriad of educational programs that are so important to our kids and families here in Massachusetts. So we urge people to look into this, talk to their state reps and senators, their local officials, and ask them -- when the time is right -- to ask Governor Healey to opt in and take advantage of this."

The states that have already opted in are mostly led by Republicans: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, according to the IRS.

Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios, in a May letter to Healey, pointed out that New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, recently announced her intent to opt her state in. He said that decision should "prompt Massachusetts to act quickly and thoughtfully so our families, students, and nonprofit scholarship organizations are not placed at a disadvantage."

"If New York proceeds, pressure will only grow on neighboring states to participate rather than watch educational resources flow across state lines. Governor Hochul's position is significant precisely because New York has historically resisted school-choice-oriented reforms. Her administration's willingness to participate reflects an understanding that the program extends beyond traditional ideological debates," Stergios wrote. "At its core, the question is whether state will permit families to access federally supported education resources that can improve student outcomes and expand opportunity."

The issue has become a political football in other states. In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear this spring vetoed a GOP-backed bill that would opt that state into the program, but the Legislature there overrode his veto. In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers also vetoed a Republican-backed bill to get his state to opt in.

"This nationwide voucher program has no student achievement metrics, no school accountability measures, no minimum or maximum scholarship size, no certain end date, and no cap on how much the federal government can spend," Evers wrote in his veto message, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. "Republicans in Washington have given private voucher expansion carte blanche to run roughshod over public education in this country — and a blank check to do so at taxpayer expense, clearly without any regard for whether it actually does what is best for kids."