Latest: New Network Launches Christian School Scholarships Under Federal Tax Credit

Aaron Baer stood in Washington this week and used a comparison most church leaders would hesitate to make. The new nationwide school choice program, he said, is the greatest evangelism opportunity since the Billy Graham crusades, and it starts with a tax credit of up to $1,700.

The Ohio-based Center for Christian Virtue has created the Christian Education Network Scholarship Granting Organization to fund scholarships for students who want to attend Christian schools. The scholarships will run under the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, for which the United States Department of the Treasury unveiled proposed regulations earlier in October 2026.

The program launches on January 1, 2027. From that date, eligible taxpayers will be able to claim a tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to a scholarship-granting organization, and that organization will then use the money to help students pay for education costs, including tuition at Christian schools, according to The Christian Post.

Baer, the president of the Center for Christian Virtue, told The Christian Post during his visit to Washington that school choice tax credits like the one enacted by President Donald Trump in the One Big Beautiful Bill have already proved transformational for Christian education. He said the federal version mirrors programs about 20 states already have, including Ohio.

Families across the United States are going to be able to access a high-quality Christian education if the body of Christ is able to step up and respond.

That was Baer speaking to The Christian Post, and he did not soften the claim that followed. He called the program the greatest evangelism opportunity since the Billy Graham crusades, and said the work now is to prepare the states, prepare the Church, and prepare Christians to make the most of what he called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Federal Scholarship Tax Credit: How $1,700 Becomes a Scholarship

The mechanics are simple on paper, even if the paperwork behind them is new. A taxpayer gives money to a scholarship-granting organization. The taxpayer claims a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for the donation.

The organization turns the pooled donations into scholarships for eligible schoolchildren, and the Center for Christian Virtue says scholarship-granting organizations must dedicate no less than 90 percent of their revenue to funding scholarships. It also says the rules qualify students from households earning up to 300 percent of the area median gross income.

So far, 30 states have opted in to the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Taxpayers in any state can claim the credit, but only students who live in states that have opted in can receive the scholarships.

The Christian Education Network has affiliates in 10 states: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Two of those states, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have not opted in, and Baer told The Christian Post he wants affiliates in states that have not opted in anyway, because Christian schools in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts need a voice in state public policy and pressure on their governors to join.

Stop Settling, Expect More: The Campaign Behind the Launch

The Center for Christian Virtue is promoting the program through a campaign called Stop Settling, Expect More. The campaign includes a 30-second video in which a narrator says families have been told to settle for failing public schools and classrooms that silence faith, and the video shows a student hiding his cross under his shirt before shifting to footage of students and teachers at Christian schools.

The video ends with the line that the Christian Education Network is done settling and that it is time to fight for children, saying families will soon be able to leave what it calls a broken system for a high-quality Christian education thanks to the Education Freedom Tax Credit. Baer contends that broken education systems are failing millions of children today, and he cited National Assessment of Educational Progress scores showing that around 70 percent of fourth graders in America are not proficient in reading.

Baer also put a number on the possible scale, saying The Wall Street Journal's low-end estimate of year-one participation was 5 percent, which he believes would mean upwards of $17 billion to $18 billion in scholarships.

Readers following Christian education and religious freedom in the United States can see related coverage in the Supreme Court hearing a Catholic preschool case in Colorado, in the Lilly Endowment opening $300 million for campus ministries, and in the worship night where nearly 600 students turned to Christ in Alabama. The seperate question behind each of those stories is the same one Baer is asking now: who gets to shape what the next generation learns, and who pays for it?

What Families Need to Know Before January 1, 2027

The date matters more than the launch headlines. The credit does not start until January 1, 2027, and the Treasury proposed regulations arrived only earlier this month, so schools, scholarship organizations and families are all learning the same new rules at the same time.

Will the governors who have held out change their minds before January, will the first year really reach anything like $17 billion, and will the children Baer talks about in Washington be sitting in Christian classrooms this time next year because a stranger claimed a tax credit? The answers will not come from a launch video. They will come from state lists, donation totals, and enrollment forms, and the first of those answers is only weeks away.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.