Chesapeake’s school board backs §25F 7-2: “I want Virginia dollars in Virginia”

A Virginia school board has taken a side on §25F, and it is for it. On Monday night, October 12, the Chesapeake School Board took up a resolution from the Chesapeake Education Association asking Gov. Abigail Spanberger to opt Virginia out of the Education Freedom Tax Credit. The board voted 7-2 to support the program instead, 13News Now reported. Only two members sided with the union.

Board chair Kim Scott explained her vote with the rule that makes the decision in Richmond matter. “One of the risks of Virginia opting out is that Virginians can still participate,” she said, but their donations “would go to students in other states. I want Virginia dollars in Virginia.” She has the mechanics right. The credit is federal, so a Virginian who gives to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) can claim it whether or not Virginia takes part. Under Treasury's proposed rules, though, scholarships follow the student's home state: an SGO on another state's list funds students who live in that state. If Virginia stays out, Virginia donors can still give to SGOs in the other participating states, and the scholarships go to those states' families.

The union's case. The association brought the resolution to the board on September 28, and member Malia Huddle asked that it go on the October 12 action agenda for a vote. Katelyn Ritenour, the association's president, told WTKR the program could cost Virginia's public schools nearly $1 billion statewide and Chesapeake up to $22 million a year. Those are the union's estimates, not a state projection, and they echo the scenario the Virginia Education Association sent Spanberger on October 2. §25F scholarships are paid from private donations, not the state budget; the argument is about enrollment moving away from public schools over time. Ritenour also said private schools are “choosy about who they enroll,” leaving behind students with disabilities and English language learners. The majority didn't buy it. “Sometimes public education does not work for certain students. I'm not going to erase those students,” one member who voted to support the program said.

Public school students can use it too. The scholarships aren't limited to private school tuition. Public school students can receive them, and the expense list in the law (borrowed from Coverdell education savings accounts) includes tutoring and special needs services; Treasury's detailed guidance on which expenses qualify is still to come. That is why public school systems elsewhere are planning around the credit rather than against it. Denver's school foundation and Clark County's schools are drawing up tutoring and after-school plans, Iowa's school administrators are setting up one SGO any public district can use, Pasco County's superintendent wants Florida's public schools in, and Columbus County educators in North Carolina formed their own SGO for their district's students.

What the vote does and doesn't do. A school board has no role in the federal election, so the vote is a statement, not a filing. Virginia is one of the 30 states on the IRS list because Gov. Glenn Youngkin filed an advance election before leaving office. Under Treasury's temporary regulations, which take effect without a comment period and apply from September 1, 2026, that election counts for 2027 only if the state sends the IRS its SGO list by February 15, 2027 (the full calendar). Spanberger said on October 9 that Virginia's status “remains in question.” Chesapeake's board is the first Virginia school board we know of to go on record for staying in, and WTKR reported in September that similar union resolutions had been proposed in other Virginia districts, so it may not be the last board to vote.

For organizations. If you plan to serve Virginia students, prepare as if the list will be filed. When it is, it must include every qualifying organization located in Virginia that asks to be on it, and the state may not add requirements tougher than §25F. Our free SGO Builder covers the federal steps, the Virginia page will carry Spanberger's decision, and Virginia's SGO page shows which organizations say they will serve the state.