Earning Full Credit: A Toolkit for Designing Tax-Credit Scholarship Policies

Tax-credit scholarship (TCS) policies create an incentive for taxpayers to contribute to nonprofit scholarship organizations that aid families with tuition and, in some states, other K–12 educational expenses. As with other policies, their ultimate success or failure depends greatly on how they are designed. This paper explores the central design features of TCS policies—such as eligibility, the tax credit value, credit caps, and academic accountability provisions—and outlines the different approaches taken by the TCS policies in each state. The paper also offers suggestions regarding each feature for policymakers who want to design a TCS policy that most likely to succeed at its central purpose: empowering families to provide their children with the education that works best for them.

Download the report: Earning Full Credit: A Toolkit for Designing Tax-Credit Scholarship Policies