The White House put §25F in the Rose Garden. The “red and blue” roster it described is mostly red, and most of the blue came by override

On Monday, August 24, 2026, the Education Freedom Tax Credit (also called the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, ECCA, or §25F) got the most visible platform it has had since it was signed. President Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon hosted a “Back to School and Education Freedom” event in the White House Rose Garden, with Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and House Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg in attendance, along with families the president introduced from North Carolina, Florida, and Indiana. “One year ago, as part of the great big beautiful bill, we passed the education freedom tax credit, the largest ever expansion of school choice,” Trump said, “and we want every parent to have the power to send their child to a high quality school that shares their values.”

McMahon's prepared remarks led with the credit. “Through the Education Freedom Tax Credit, President Trump has delivered the largest national expansion of education freedom in history for over 50 million eligible children,” she said, “giving parents unprecedented freedom to choose the path that's best for their child.” Then the line that is worth checking: “It's no surprise that over half of our nation's states, both red and blue, have raced to this historic school choice option, benefitting families whether their child attends public or private school.” The White House release put the same claim as “30+ states already opting in or signaling their intent to participate” and “nearly 52 million students nationwide” eligible.

The numbers hold up, with one footnote each. The IRS list of participating states for 2027 stands at 30 as of July 24, which we tracked when Kentucky became the thirtieth. The “plus” is New York, where Gov. Hochul said in May she intends to opt in but has not filed. The 52 million comes from the American Federation for Children's July analysis, which counts every K-12 student in a household under 300% of area median income, in every state, whether or not the state has joined. Roughly 21 million of those students live in states that have not.

“Red and blue” is the claim that needs the most context, and the context is more interesting than the slogan. Of the 30 states on the IRS list, 25 have Republican governors. Five have Democrats: Colorado, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, and Virginia. Only one of the five got there because its governor decided it should. Colorado's Jared Polis called opting in a no-brainer and filed. Kentucky's Andy Beshear vetoed the opt-in bill and the legislature overrode him with a law that assigns the election to the Secretary of State, who filed it in July. Kansas's Laura Kelly vetoed and was overridden. North Carolina's Josh Stein vetoed and was overridden along party lines. Virginia's election was made by Glenn Youngkin in his last days in office, and his Democratic successor has left it standing. The roster is bipartisan in the sense that matters to the statute, which does not ask who governs. It is not yet bipartisan in the sense of Democratic governors choosing it, and the honest count there is one, with a second pending in Albany.

That is why the two governors on the lawn were Pillen and Sanders. Nebraska was the first state to commit, by executive order in September 2025, and Arkansas announced in January. Both are states where the governor held the decision and made it. The states the administration most wants to move are the ones where a Democratic governor holds the decision alone and has not made it: Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware. Four days after the Rose Garden, McMahon was in Sterling Heights pressing Gov. Whitmer by name, and three days after it a Chicago school board member broke with his own board to ask Gov. Pritzker. The event was the opening of a push, not a victory lap.

The opposition answered on cue. American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, quoted by The Washington Times, called the program a “likely illegal scheme” that benefits families already in private schools. We have covered who opposes §25F and what they can actually do about it, and the answer as of this week is unchanged: the repeal bills in both chambers have had no committee action since they were introduced, and no lawsuit has been filed against the credit itself. The illegality claim is an argument about state constitutions, and the states where it would matter are the ones that have not joined.

What the Rose Garden changes for scholarship organizations is attention, and attention is the scarce input. The credit is worth $1,700 to any taxpayer who gives to a listed organization, in any state, and the real risk to the program has always been that donors do not know it exists. A president saying its name from the Rose Garden four months before it starts, with the proposed regulations due by the end of September and Alaska's first approvals promised by the same date, is the kind of awareness no organization could buy. The organizations that benefit are the ones on a state list when donors go looking. Start with the free SGO builder, read how to start an SGO, and check who is already listed in your state.

The thing to watch is whether “30+” becomes 31 by a governor's signature rather than a legislature's override. The IRS page, not a press release, is where that will show up.