Gov. Reeves Says Mississippi Will Participate in Federal School-Choice Tax Credits

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

Mississippi will soon be able to get a break on their taxes for contributing to private-school scholarships, thanks to a federal program.

Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that he had opted the state into the program. It’s a win for school-choice proponents, as Mississippi lawmakers continue to debate the policy on the state level.

School choice — policies aimed at giving families more educational options, often funding those choices with public money —  is the top issue of the current legislative session, led by House Speaker Jason White. Both chambers have passed school-choice bills, but Senate leaders have firmly taken a stance against programs that send public dollars to private schools, as the federal tax-credit program does.

School-choice proponents say the policies give parents more control over their children’s education. Opponents argue that they siphon money away from the public education system, which is required to serve every child.

“Mississippi believes that parents – not government – know what’s best for their children’s education,” Reeves said in his announcement.

The federal tax-credit program, created by President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” allows Mississippians to contribute up to $1,700 to an organization that awards scholarships to private-school students, starting in federal tax year 2027. Donors will be given a break on their taxes equal to the amount they contribute — that’s called a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, and it’s about three times as much as people receive from donating to a children’s hospital or other causes.

To qualify for these scholarships, one can earn up to 300% of the area’s median income. That’s six-figures in Mississippi, or about $150,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Research shows a majority of private-school vouchers across the country go to students who could already afford and were attending private schools.

In the coming months, Reeves’ office will designate eligible scholarship-granting organizations — groups that will disburse these vouchers, whose sole purpose must be doing so — to participate in the program.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Did you use this article in your work?

We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how