II 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION S. 292 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against tax for charitable donations to nonprofit organizations providing edu- cation scholarships to qualified elementary and secondary students. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY29, 2025 Mr. C ASSIDY(for himself, Mr. SCOTTof South Carolina, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. D AINES, Mr. THUNE, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. B UDD, Mr. COTTON, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. JUSTICE, Mr. R ISCH, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. H AWLEY, Mrs. BRITT, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr. C RAMER, Mr. WICKER, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. RICKETTS, and Mr. HUSTED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against tax for charitable donations to nonprofit organizations providing education scholarships to quali- fied elementary and secondary students. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Educational Choice 4 for Children Act of 2025’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 292 IS SEC. 2. TAX CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCHOLAR-1 SHIP GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS. 2 (a) C REDIT FORINDIVIDUALS.— 3 (1) I N GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub-4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code 5 of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 25E 6 the following new section: 7 ‘‘SEC. 25F. QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDU-8 CATION SCHOLARSHIPS. 9 ‘‘(a) A LLOWANCE OFCREDIT.—In the case of an in-10 dividual who is a citizen or resident of the United States 11 (as defined in section 7701(a)(9)), there shall be allowed 12 as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for 13 the taxable year an amount equal to the aggregate amount 14 of qualified contributions made by the taxpayer during the 15 taxable year. 16 ‘‘(b) L IMITATIONS.— 17 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL.—The credit allowed under 18 subsection (a) to any taxpayer for any taxable year 19 shall not exceed an amount equal to the greater of— 20 ‘‘(A) 10 percent of the adjusted gross in-21 come of the taxpayer for the taxable year, or 22 ‘‘(B) $5,000. 23 ‘‘(2) A LLOCATION OF VOLUME CAP .—The credit 24 allowed under subsection (a) to any taxpayer for any 25 taxable year shall not exceed the amount of the vol-26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 292 IS ume cap allocated by the Secretary to such taxpayer 1 under section 3 of the Educational Choice for Chil-2 dren Act of 2025 with respect to qualified contribu-3 tions made by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 4 ‘‘(3) R EDUCTION BASED ON STATE CREDIT .— 5 The amount allowed as a credit under subsection (a) 6 for a taxable year shall be reduced by the amount 7 allowed as a credit on any State tax return of the 8 taxpayer for qualified contributions made by the tax-9 payer during the taxable year. 10 ‘‘(c) D EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 11 ‘‘(1) E LIGIBLE STUDENT.—The term ‘eligible 12 student’ means an individual who— 13 ‘‘(A) is a member of a household with an 14 income which is not greater than 300 percent 15 of the area median gross income (as such term 16 is used in section 42), and 17 ‘‘(B) is eligible to enroll in a public ele-18 mentary or secondary school. 19 ‘‘(2) Q UALIFIED CONTRIBUTION .—The term 20 ‘qualified contribution’ means a charitable contribu-21 tion (as defined by section 170(c)) to a scholarship 22 granting organization in the form of cash or market-23 able securities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 292 IS ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY 1 EDUCATION EXPENSE .—The term ‘qualified elemen-2 tary or secondary education expense’ means the fol-3 lowing expenses in connection with enrollment or at-4 tendance at, or for students enrolled at or attending, 5 a public or private elementary or secondary school 6 (including a religious elementary or secondary 7 school): 8 ‘‘(A) Tuition. 9 ‘‘(B) Curricula and curricular materials. 10 ‘‘(C) Books or other instructional mate-11 rials. 12 ‘‘(D) Online educational materials. 13 ‘‘(E) Tuition for tutoring or educational 14 classes outside of the home, including at a tu-15 toring facility, but only if the tutor or instruc-16 tor is not related to the student and— 17 ‘‘(i) is licensed as a teacher in any 18 State, 19 ‘‘(ii) has taught at— 20 ‘‘(I) a public or private elemen-21 tary or secondary school, or 22 ‘‘(II) an institution of higher 23 education (as defined in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 292 IS 101(a) of the Higher Education Act 1 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))), or 2 ‘‘(iii) is a subject matter expert in the 3 relevant subject. 4 ‘‘(F) Fees for a nationally standardized 5 norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced 6 placement examination, or any examinations re-7 lated to admission to an institution of higher 8 education. 9 ‘‘(G) Fees for dual enrollment in an insti-10 tution of higher education. 11 ‘‘(H) Educational therapies for students 12 with disabilities provided by a licensed or ac-13 credited practitioner or provider, including oc-14 cupational, behavioral, physical, and speech-lan-15 guage therapies. 16 Such term shall include expenses for the purposes 17 described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) in con-18 nection with a home school (whether treated as a 19 home school or a private school for purposes of ap-20 plicable State law). 21 ‘‘(4) S CHOLARSHIP GRANTING ORGANIZA -22 TION.—The term ‘scholarship granting organization’ 23 means any organization— 24 ‘‘(A) which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 292 IS ‘‘(i) is described in section 501(c)(3) 1 and exempt from tax under section 501(a), 2 and 3 ‘‘(ii) is not a private foundation, 4 ‘‘(B) substantially all of the activities of 5 which are providing scholarships for qualified 6 elementary or secondary education expenses of 7 eligible students, 8 ‘‘(C) which prevents the co-mingling of 9 qualified contributions with other amounts by 10 maintaining one or more separate accounts ex-11 clusively for qualified contributions, and 12 ‘‘(D) which either— 13 ‘‘(i) meets the requirements of sub-14 section (d), or 15 ‘‘(ii) pursuant to State law, was able 16 (as of the date of the enactment of this 17 section) to receive contributions that are 18 eligible for a State tax credit if such con-19 tributions are used by the organization to 20 provide scholarships to individual elemen-21 tary and secondary students, including 22 scholarships for attending private schools. 23 ‘‘(d) R EQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOLARSHIPGRANTING 24 O RGANIZATIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 292 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An organization meets the 1 requirements of this subsection if— 2 ‘‘(A) such organization provides scholar-3 ships to 2 or more students, provided that not 4 all such students attend the same school, 5 ‘‘(B) such organization does not provide 6 scholarships for any expenses other than quali-7 fied elementary or secondary education ex-8 penses, 9 ‘‘(C) such organization provides a scholar-10 ship to eligible students with a priority for— 11 ‘‘(i) students awarded a scholarship 12 the previous school year, and 13 ‘‘(ii) after application of clause (i), 14 any such students who have a sibling who 15 was awarded a scholarship from such orga-16 nization, 17 ‘‘(D) such organization does not earmark 18 or set aside contributions for scholarships on 19 behalf of any particular student, 20 ‘‘(E) such organization takes appropriate 21 steps to verify the annual household income and 22 family size of eligible students to whom it 23 awards scholarships, and limits them to a mem-24 ber of a household for which the income does 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 292 IS not exceed the amount established under sub-1 section (c)(1)(A), 2 ‘‘(F) such organization— 3 ‘‘(i) obtains from an independent cer-4 tified public accountant annual financial 5 and compliance audits, and 6 ‘‘(ii) certifies to the Secretary (at such 7 time, and in such form and manner, as the 8 Secretary may prescribe) that the audit de-9 scribed in clause (i) has been completed, 10 and 11 ‘‘(G) no officer or board member of such 12 organization has been convicted of a felony. 13 ‘‘(2) I NCOME VERIFICATION.—For purposes of 14 paragraph (1)(E), review of all of the following (as 15 applicable) shall be treated as satisfying the require-16 ment to take appropriate steps to verify annual 17 household income: 18 ‘‘(A) Federal and State income tax returns 19 or tax return transcripts with applicable sched-20 ules for the taxable year prior to application. 21 ‘‘(B) Income reporting statements for tax 22 purposes or wage and income transcripts from 23 the Internal Revenue Service. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 292 IS ‘‘(C) Notarized income verification letter 1 from employers. 2 ‘‘(D) Unemployment or workers compensa-3 tion statements. 4 ‘‘(E) Budget letters regarding public as-5 sistance payments and Supplemental Nutrition 6 Assistance Program (SNAP) payments includ-7 ing a list of household members. 8 ‘‘(3) I NDEPENDENT CERTIFIED PUBLIC AC -9 COUNTANT.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(F), the 10 term ‘independent certified public accountant’ 11 means, with respect to an organization, a certified 12 public accountant who is not a person described in 13 section 465(b)(3)(A) with respect to such organiza-14 tion or any employee of such organization. 15 ‘‘(4) P ROHIBITION ON SELF-DEALING.— 16 ‘‘(A) I N GENERAL.—A scholarship grant-17 ing organization may not award a scholarship 18 to any disqualified person. 19 ‘‘(B) D ISQUALIFIED PERSON .—For pur-20 poses of this paragraph, a disqualified person 21 shall be determined pursuant to rules similar to 22 the rules of section 4946. 23 ‘‘(e) D ENIAL OFDOUBLEBENEFIT.—Any qualified 24 contribution for which a credit is allowed under this sec-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 292 IS tion shall not be taken into account as a charitable con-1 tribution for purposes of section 170. 2 ‘‘(f) C ARRYFORWARD OF UNUSEDCREDIT.— 3 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL.—If the credit allowable 4 under subsection (a) for any taxable year exceeds 5 the limitation imposed by section 26(a) for such tax-6 able year reduced by the sum of the credits allowable 7 under this subpart (other than this section, section 8 23, and section 25D), such excess shall be carried to 9 the succeeding taxable year and added to the credit 10 allowable under subsection (a) for such taxable year. 11 ‘‘(2) L IMITATION.—No credit may be carried 12 forward under this subsection to any taxable year 13 following the fifth taxable year after the taxable year 14 in which the credit arose. For purposes of the pre-15 ceding sentence, credits shall be treated as used on 16 a first-in first-out basis.’’. 17 (2) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 18 (A) Section 25(e)(1)(C) of such Code is 19 amended by striking ‘‘and 25D’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘25D, and 25F’’. 21 (B) The table of sections for subpart A of 22 part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such 23 Code is amended by inserting after the item re-24 lating to section 25E the following new item: 25 ‘‘Sec. 25F. Qualified elementary and secondary education scholarships.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 292 IS (b) CREDIT FORCORPORATIONS.— 1 (1) I N GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of 2 subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue 3 Code of 1986 is amended by adding after section 4 45AA the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 45BB. CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCHOLARSHIP GRANTING 6 ORGANIZATIONS. 7 ‘‘(a) G ENERALRULE.—For purposes of section 38, 8 in the case of a corporation, the education scholarship 9 credit determined under this section for the taxable year 10 is the aggregate amount of qualified contributions for the 11 taxable year. 12 ‘‘(b) A MOUNT OFCREDIT.—The credit allowed under 13 subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not exceed 5 per-14 cent of the taxable income (as defined in section 15 170(b)(2)(D)) of the corporation for such taxable year. 16 ‘‘(c) Q UALIFIEDCONTRIBUTIONS.—For purposes of 17 this section, the term ‘qualified contribution’ has the 18 meaning given such term under section 25F. 19 ‘‘(d) D ENIAL OFDOUBLEBENEFIT.—No deduction 20 shall be allowed under any provision of this chapter for 21 any expense for which a credit is allowed under this sec-22 tion. 23 ‘‘(e) A PPLICATION OF VOLUMECAP.—A qualified 24 contribution shall be taken into account under this section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 292 IS only if such contribution is not in excess of the volume 1 cap established under section 3 of the Educational Choice 2 for Children Act of 2025.’’. 3 (2) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 4 38(b) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at 5 the end of paragraph (40), by striking the period 6 and inserting ‘‘, plus’’ at the end of paragraph (41), 7 and by adding at the end the following new para-8 graph: 9 ‘‘(42) the education scholarship credit deter-10 mined under section 45BB(a).’’. 11 (3) C LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-12 tions for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of 13 chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding at the 14 end the following new item: 15 ‘‘Sec. 45BB. Contributions to scholarship granting organizations.’’. (c) FAILURE OFSCHOLARSHIPGRANTINGORGANI-16 ZATIONSTOMAKEDISTRIBUTIONS.— 17 (1) I N GENERAL.—Chapter 42 of such Code is 18 amended by adding at the end the following new 19 subchapter: 20 ‘‘Subchapter I—Scholarship Granting 21 Organizations 22 ‘‘Sec. 4969. Failure to distribute receipts. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 292 IS ‘‘SEC. 4969. FAILURE TO DISTRIBUTE RECEIPTS. 1 ‘‘(a) I NGENERAL.—In the case of any scholarship 2 granting organization (as defined in section 25F) which 3 has been determined by the Secretary to have failed to 4 satisfy the requirement under subsection (b) for any tax-5 able year, any contribution made to such organization dur-6 ing the first taxable year beginning after the date of such 7 determination shall not be treated as a qualified contribu-8 tion (as defined in section 25F(c)(2)) for purposes of sec-9 tions 25F and 45BB. 10 ‘‘(b) R EQUIREMENT.—The requirement described in 11 this subsection is that the amount of receipts of the schol-12 arship granting organization for the taxable year which 13 are distributed before the distribution deadline with re-14 spect to such receipts shall not be less than the required 15 distribution amount with respect to such taxable year. 16 ‘‘(c) D EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 17 ‘‘(1) R EQUIRED DISTRIBUTION AMOUNT .— 18 ‘‘(A) I N GENERAL.—The required distribu-19 tion amount with respect to a taxable year is 20 the amount equal to 100 percent of the total re-21 ceipts of the scholarship granting organization 22 for such taxable year— 23 ‘‘(i) reduced by the sum of such re-24 ceipts that are retained for reasonable ad-25 ministrative expenses for the taxable year 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 •S 292 IS or are carried to the succeeding taxable 1 year under subparagraph (C), and 2 ‘‘(ii) increased by the amount of the 3 carryover under subparagraph (C) from 4 the preceding taxable year. 5 ‘‘(B) S AFE HARBOR FOR REASONABLE AD -6 MINISTRATIVE EXPENSES .—For purposes of 7 subparagraph (A)(i), if the percentage of total 8 receipts of a scholarship granting organization 9 for a taxable year which are used for adminis-10 trative purposes is equal to or less than 10 per-11 cent, such expenses shall be deemed to be rea-12 sonable for purposes of such subparagraph. 13 ‘‘(C) C ARRYOVER.—With respect to the 14 amount of the total receipts of a scholarship 15 granting organization with respect to any tax-16 able year, an amount not greater than 15 per-17 cent of such amount may, at the election of 18 such organization, be carried to the succeeding 19 taxable year. 20 ‘‘(2) D ISTRIBUTIONS.—The term ‘distribution’ 21 includes amounts which are formally committed but 22 not distributed. A formal commitment described in 23 the preceding sentence may include contributions set 24 aside for eligible students for more than one year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 •S 292 IS ‘‘(3) DISTRIBUTION DEADLINE .—The distribu-1 tion deadline with respect to receipts for a taxable 2 year is the first day of the third taxable year fol-3 lowing the taxable year in which such receipts are 4 received by the scholarship granting organization.’’. 5 (2) C LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sub-6 chapters for chapter 42 of such Code is amended by 7 adding at the end the following new item: 8 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER I. SCHOLARSHIP GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS ’’. (d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 9 this section shall apply to taxable years ending after De-10 cember 31, 2025. 11 SEC. 3. VOLUME CAP. 12 (a) I NGENERAL.—For purposes of sections 13 25F(b)(2) and 45BB(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 14 1986 (as added by this Act), the volume cap applicable 15 under this section shall be $10,000,000,000 for calendar 16 year 2026 and each subsequent year thereafter. Such 17 amount shall be allocated by the Secretary as provided in 18 subsection (b) to taxpayers with respect to qualified con-19 tributions made by such taxpayers, except that 10 percent 20 of such amount shall be divided evenly among the States, 21 and shall be available with respect to— 22 (1) individuals residing in such States to claim 23 the credit allowed under section 25F of the Internal 24 Revenue Code of 1986, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16 •S 292 IS (2) corporations created or organized in such 1 State to claim the credit determined under section 2 45BB of such Code. 3 (b) F IRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE.—For purposes of 4 applying the volume cap under this section, such volume 5 cap for any calendar year shall be allocated by the Sec-6 retary on a first-come, first-serve basis, as determined 7 based on the time (during such calendar year) at which 8 the taxpayer made the qualified contribution with respect 9 to which the allocation is made. The Secretary shall not 10 make any allocation of volume cap for any calendar year 11 after December 31 of such calendar year. 12 (c) R EAL-TIMEINFORMATION.—For purposes of this 13 section, the Secretary shall develop a system to track the 14 amount of qualified contributions made during the cal-15 endar year for which a credit may be claimed under sec-16 tion 25F or 45BB of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 17 with such information to be updated in real time. 18 (d) A NNUALINCREASES.— 19 (1) I N GENERAL.—In the case of the calendar 20 year after a high use calendar year, the dollar 21 amount otherwise in effect under subsection (a) for 22 such calendar year shall be equal to 105 percent of 23 the dollar amount in effect for such high use cal-24 endar year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17 •S 292 IS (2) HIGH USE CALENDAR YEAR .—For purposes 1 of this subsection, the term ‘‘high use calendar 2 year’’ means any calendar year for which 90 percent 3 or more of the volume cap in effect for such cal-4 endar year under subsection (a) is allocated to tax-5 payers. 6 (3) P REVENTION OF DECREASES IN ANNUAL 7 VOLUME CAP.—The volume cap in effect under sub-8 section (a) for any calendar year shall not be less 9 than the volume cap in effect under such subsection 10 for the preceding calendar year. 11 (4) P UBLICATION OF ANNUAL VOLUME CAP .— 12 The Secretary shall make publicly available the dol-13 lar amount of the volume cap in effect under sub-14 section (a) for each calendar year. 15 (e) S TATES.—For purposes of this section, the term 16 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia. 17 SEC. 4. EXEMPTION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR SCHOLAR-18 SHIPS FOR QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY OR SEC-19 ONDARY EDUCATION EXPENSES OF ELIGIBLE 20 STUDENTS. 21 (a) I NGENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chap-22 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 23 by inserting before section 140 the following new section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 18 •S 292 IS ‘‘SEC. 139J. SCHOLARSHIPS FOR QUALIFIED ELEMENTARY 1 OR SECONDARY EDUCATION EXPENSES OF 2 ELIGIBLE STUDENTS. 3 ‘‘(a) I NGENERAL.—In the case of an individual, 4 gross income shall not include any amounts provided to 5 any dependent of such individual pursuant to a scholar-6 ship for qualified elementary or secondary education ex-7 penses of an eligible student which is provided by a schol-8 arship granting organization. 9 ‘‘(b) D EFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘quali-10 fied elementary or secondary education expense’, ‘eligible 11 student’, and ‘scholarship granting organization’ have the 12 same meaning given such terms under section 25F(c).’’. 13 (b) C ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The table of sec-14 tions for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the In-15 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting be-16 fore the item relating to section 140 the following new 17 item: 18 ‘‘Sec. 139J. Scholarships for qualified elementary or secondary education ex- penses of eligible students.’’. (c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 19 this section shall apply to amounts received after Decem-20 ber 31, 2025, in taxable years ending after such date. 21 SEC. 5. ORGANIZATIONAL AND PARENTAL AUTONOMY. 22 (a) P ROHIBITION OFCONTROLOVERSCHOLARSHIP 23 O RGANIZATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19 •S 292 IS (1) IN GENERAL.— 1 (A) T REATMENT.—A scholarship granting 2 organization shall not, by virtue of participation 3 under any provision of this Act or any amend-4 ment made by this Act, be regarded as acting 5 on behalf of any governmental entity. 6 (B) N O GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL .—Noth-7 ing in this Act, or any amendment made by this 8 Act, shall be construed to permit, allow, encour-9 age, or authorize any Federal, State, or local 10 government entity, or officer or employee there-11 of, to mandate, direct, or control any aspect of 12 any scholarship granting organization. 13 (C) M AXIMUM FREEDOM .—To the extent 14 permissible by law, this Act, and any amend-15 ment made by this Act, shall be construed to 16 allow scholarship granting organizations max-17 imum freedom to provide for the needs of the 18 participants without governmental control. 19 (2) P ROHIBITION OF CONTROL OVER NON -PUB-20 LIC SCHOOLS.— 21 (A) N O GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL .—Noth-22 ing in this Act, or any amendment made by this 23 Act, shall be construed to permit, allow, encour-24 age, or authorize any Federal, State, or local 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 20 •S 292 IS government entity, or officer or employee there-1 of, to mandate, direct, or control any aspect of 2 any private or religious elementary or secondary 3 education institution. 4 (B) N O EXCLUSION OF PRIVATE OR RELI -5 GIOUS SCHOOLS.—No Federal, State, or local 6 government entity, or officer or employee there-7 of, shall impose or permit the imposition of any 8 conditions or requirements that would exclude 9 or operate to exclude educational expenses at 10 private or religious elementary and secondary 11 education institutions from being considered 12 qualified elementary or secondary education ex-13 penses. 14 (C) N O EXCLUSION OF QUALIFIED EX -15 PENSES DUE TO INSTITUTION ’S RELIGIOUS 16 CHARACTER OR AFFILIATION .—No Federal, 17 State, or local government entity, or officer or 18 employee thereof, shall exclude, discriminate 19 against, or otherwise disadvantage any elemen-20 tary or secondary education institution with re-21 spect to qualified elementary or secondary edu-22 cation expenses at that institution based in 23 whole or in part on the institution’s religious 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 21 •S 292 IS character or affiliation, including religiously 1 based or mission-based policies or practices. 2 (3) P ARENTAL RIGHTS TO USE SCHOLAR -3 SHIPS.—No Federal, State, or local government en-4 tity, or officer or employee thereof, shall disfavor or 5 discourage the use of scholarships granted by par-6 ticipating scholarship granting organizations for 7 qualified elementary or secondary education ex-8 penses at private or nonprofit elementary and sec-9 ondary education institutions, including faith-based 10 schools. 11 (4) P ARENTAL RIGHT TO INTERVENE .—In any 12 action filed in any State or Federal court which 13 challenges the constitutionality (under the constitu-14 tion of such State or the Constitution of the United 15 States) of any provision of this Act (or any amend-16 ment made by this Act), any parent of an eligible 17 student who has received a scholarship from a schol-18 arship granting organization shall have the right to 19 intervene in support of the constitutionality of such 20 provision or amendment. To avoid duplication of ef-21 forts and reduce the burdens placed on the parties 22 to the action, the court in any such action may re-23 quire interveners taking similar positions to file joint 24 papers or to be represented by a single attorney at 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 22 •S 292 IS oral argument, provided that the court does not re-1 quire such interveners to join any brief filed on be-2 half of any State which is a defendant in such ac-3 tion. 4 (b) D EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 5 terms ‘‘eligible student’’, ‘‘scholarship granting organiza-6 tion’’, and ‘‘qualified elementary or secondary education 7 expense’’ shall have the same meanings given such terms 8 under section 25F(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 9 1986 (as added by section 2(a) of this Act). 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:13 Feb 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S292.IS S292 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB