Gov. Kathy Hochul is refusing to jump at the chance to help some of the state’s neediest students obtain crucial scholarships, critics gripe — but she’s laying the blame on President Trump.
Under a Republican-led new federal tax-credit scholarship program that takes effect next January, taxpayers in participating states will be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $1,700 for the cash contributions they donate to certain scholarship-granting organizations.
The donations are then used to grant scholarships to students at private and public elementary and secondary schools located within their states. In New York, such donations run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Eligibility for scholarships are limited to students whose family income is below 300% of their area median income.
New York students can’t benefit unless the governor agrees for the state to opt into the program.
“Kathy Hochul is taking opportunities away from New York children, plain and simple,” said Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman, also Nassau County executive on Long Island.
“By refusing to opt into this program, Hochul is blocking access to tutoring, test preparation, transportation, and tuition assistance for New York students, sending education dollars to other states, and telling New York families they get nothing,” Blakeman said.
He said Hochul’s potential refusal would be especially a blow to Catholic schools and yeshivas that educate tens of thousands of students while grappling with rising costs and declining enrollment.
He also pointed out the program does not divert taxpayer funding to public schools.
The tax-credit scholarship program was included in the budget bill approved last year by the Republican-led Congress and Trump.
But Hochul’s office said the governor simply still has not yet made a decision on whether to join the program and is awaiting more guidance from the Trump administration.
“The governor is open to any proposals that will support our students and schools but given the constantly changing federal funding landscape and the President’s troubling track record, she’ll need to review the program’s guidance and rules which we have still not received from the Trump Administration,” her office said in a statement.
Hochul’s office also noted that the program doesn’t take effect until the beginning of 2027, so federal money is not currently being blocked by the state, as Blakeman claims.
“Governor Hochul is always going to stand up for students – meanwhile, Bruce Blakeman almost caused a child care ‘death spiral’ in his own county and won’t lift a finger to fight back against Donald Trump’s war on New York kids, including his attempts to defund New York schools,” said Hochul campaign rep Ryan Radulovacki.
Blakeman has opposed Hochul’s multibillion-dollar push for taxpayer-funded childcare, saying it is too costly given the state’s more pressing financial needs.
New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Dennis Poust said he expects Hochul will eventually opt in to the federal tax-credit program.
“It would be crazy not to. We really think it’s a no-brainer,” Poust said.
But agreeing with Trump on even a “no-brainer” is a political hot potato for Democratic governors such as Hochul who are seeking re-election this fall and fighting the White House on other fronts.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democratic governor thus far who said he would opt his state into the program.
Arne Duncan, the education secretary under former Democratic President Barack Obama, endorsed the program and said Democrats’ hesitance is misplaced.
“By opting in, a governor unlocks these resources for students in their state. …Opting in doesn’t take a single dollar from state education budgets,” Duncan said.
“It simply opens the door to new, private donations, at no cost to taxpayers, that can support students in public and nonpublic settings alike.
“That’s why opting in isn’t just defensible, it’s a no-brainer,” Duncan said in a November Washington Post column co-written with Jorge Elorza, CEO of Education Reform Now and former mayor of Providence, RI.
But sources said Hochul also may be wary of offending powerful teachers’ unions by opting into the scholarship program.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten blasted the tax credit as a “permanent school voucher scheme” when commenting on the program in a Dec. 22 letter to the IRS.
“We should be working to strengthen, not abandon, our public schools,” wrote Weingarten, who used to head the AFT New York City teachers’ union local.