Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) has reintroduced legislation aimed at easing the financial burden of K–12 education for families in New Jersey and across the country. His bill, the Education Achievement and Opportunity Act (HR 2097), would provide substantial tax relief to parents seeking to send their children to the school of their choice.
“Parents of all faith traditions and economic backgrounds deserve the opportunity to choose and afford the school system that will help their children thrive and learn in the educational setting best suited for them,” Smith said in a statement announcing the legislation.
HR 2097 proposes a tax credit of up to $10,000 per child per year to help cover the cost of tuition and fees for students enrolled in Jewish, private, parochial, religious, charter, or public schools through 12th grade. In addition, up to $1,500 of the total credit could be used for education-related expenses such as computers, software, books, tutoring, special needs services, transportation, and academic testing.
The full tax credit would be available to individuals earning up to $75,000 annually and couples earning up to $150,000. Above these thresholds, the credit would gradually phase out by $50 for every additional $1,000 in income.
“Jewish, private, parochial, and religious schools provide world-class instruction and are a vital component of our nation’s school system,” Smith said. “My legislation will go a long way toward ensuring parents of all faiths can afford beneficial faith-based schooling options for their kids.”
Smith, who has long advocated for educational choice, emphasized that the bill would address the challenge many parents face of “paying twice”—once through property taxes to fund public schools, and again for private tuition.
In addition to HR 2097, Smith is also backing the Educational Choice for Children Act (HR 817), a separate bill that would incentivize donations to scholarship funds through federal tax credits. Under this legislation, individuals and businesses could receive a minimum of $5,000 in tax credits for contributing to scholarships supporting K–12 education, particularly for households earning up to 300% of the local median income.
“The need is great, and we must look for more than one way to help families solve this problem,” Smith said. “To that end, I am again an active cosponsor of the Educational Choice for Children Act, which—like my bill—will expand education freedom and opportunity.”
Smith added, “The public school system was created to serve students, not the other way around. Children should have the opportunity to attend the school system that is most conducive to developing their abilities, and parents should have a free and fair choice to send their child to the school that best meets their needs.”
Democrats will kill the bill. They want everything thru the govt. Only they could go to private schools.
The Democrats don’t have a say in the reconciliation. It’s up to the Republicans to prioritize and include ECCA in reconciliation bill. And Congressman Smith should be doing a lot more than this “late to the game” cosponsorship, and burying his support for ECCA behind some other meaningless performatory bill. As our representative, we should be demanding much more.