Gov. Mike Dunleavy opted Alaska into the federal Scholarship Tax Credit on January 26, 2026, doing it administratively rather than through the legislature. The state has no qualified SGOs, no application process, and its own education commissioner says there is no hurry, and Dunleavy will be out of office before the program launches in 2027.
On January 26, 2026, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy opted his state into the federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC / ECCA / §25F), the program that lets taxpayers claim a one-for-one federal credit of up to $1,700 for donations to qualified Scholarship Granting Organizations. The announcement came through an official bulletin from Alaska's Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), which framed the move as expanding school choice. “Opting into the ECCA creates another opportunity for families and students to reap the benefits of school choice,” Dunleavy said in the bulletin. Under the program, scholarships can flow to families earning up to 300% of area median gross income, and the dollars can cover tuition and fees at private, charter, micro, and home schools, along with dual-enrollment courses, educational therapies, tutors, and supplies. The program takes effect January 1, 2027.
What distinguishes Alaska is not that it opted in, but how. There was no bill, no floor vote, and no veto fight. According to reporting by the Anchorage Daily News, Dunleavy signed the state on earlier in the week and the state simply had to notify the IRS of its intent to join the program, with DEED handling the notification administratively. That is a sharply different path from the one taken in states where participation was contested. Kentucky, Kansas, and North Carolina reached §25F only after legislatures overrode their governors' vetoes, and other governors have declined or vetoed opt-in bills outright. Alaska's executive election sidestepped the legislature entirely, and Dunleavy drew criticism for acting without first soliciting input from lawmakers, school boards, or parents.
The opt-in is also notably premature on the ground. As of the announcement, no Scholarship Granting Organizations had been established in Alaska, the state had set no application process, and it had not submitted any SGO list. Education Commissioner Deena Bishop made clear the state was in no hurry to change that. “I don't see government moving that fast,” she said. “It's no rush. We want to do it right.” In practice, opting in is the first and easiest step: the credit cannot actually function in Alaska until qualified SGOs exist to receive donations and award scholarships, and building that infrastructure falls to the state's discretion. For donors and prospective SGO founders, that gap between the election and a working program is the part worth tracking, and it is detailed alongside every other state's status on our Alaska state page and the national participation map.
There is a further wrinkle: Dunleavy will be out of office before the program he opted into ever launches. The §25F credit becomes available January 1, 2027, after the 2026 election cycle, which means a successor administration will inherit the job of standing up SGOs, defining the application process, and administering the program day to day. That inheritance dynamic echoes Virginia, where Glenn Youngkin opted in before handing the program to Abigail Spanberger, though Alaska's version is starker because the launch is further out and the supporting infrastructure does not yet exist. Whether the next governor builds out a robust SGO network or lets the election sit dormant will determine what Alaska families actually receive. Founders weighing whether to establish one of Alaska's first SGOs can review how the organizations work in our explainers and see the current national landscape in the SGO directory.
