Andy Mulvihill is Board Chairman of the New Jersey Policy Institute.

New Jersey has a literacy crisis hiding behind a trophy. We are ranked number one in the nation for K–12 education, and yet barely 45 percent of our third graders read at grade level. Nearly one in five students has a disability. More than a third are economically disadvantaged. Thousands are falling behind every year while the adults around them argue about power, money, and political allegiance.

Into this landscape comes the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, a dollar for dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals who donate to nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organizations. Those organizations, in turn, award scholarships to eligible students to cover a range of educational expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring, after school programs, enrichment, and other academic supports. The program requires states to opt in. More than 28 states already have. New Jersey has not decided, and the NJEA wants to make sure it never does.

That opposition deserves far more scrutiny than it has received.

This Is Not About Private Schools. This Is About Kids.

Opponents of the tax credit, the NJEA chief among them, frame this entirely as a voucher fight. Private schools. Religious institutions. Public money being diverted away from public education.

But that framing is not just incomplete, it is misleading.

The law is clear, these are scholarships that can be used for a wide range of educational needs. That includes private school tuition, but it also includes tutoring, after school programs, and targeted academic interventions for students who remain in public schools.

A child does not have to leave public school to benefit.

A third grader in Newark reading two years behind grade level does not need a political debate. That child needs support. A scholarship funded through this program can help pay for tutoring, structured after school learning, or other interventions that the family simply could not afford otherwise.

That is the part opponents would prefer not to talk about.

Because once you acknowledge that reality, the argument changes. This is no longer about diverting resources. It is about adding resources, directly to families, without taking a single dollar away from New Jersey’s public schools.

Let’s Be Clear About What This Program Is, and Isn’t

You will hear that this program diverts public dollars. It does not.

You will hear that it comes at the expense of school funding. It does not.

You will hear that it is funded by cuts to programs like Medicaid or SNAP. It is not.

This program is funded through private donations, incentivized by a federal tax credit. It does not reduce New Jersey’s education budget by a single dollar. It does not change school funding formulas. It does not force any district to cut services.

What it does is create an opportunity, one that New Jersey families will help fund through federal taxes whether the state opts in or not.

The only question is whether those families will be allowed to benefit.

Who Actually Benefits?

You will also hear that this program is just another way to make the rich richer.

That claim does not hold up.

Across the country, the most established Scholarship Granting Organizations focus their support on students from low and moderate income families, the very students who are already struggling the most in our current system. These are not scholarships for the wealthy. They are targeted resources for families who otherwise have no ability to access additional educational support.

In practice, this means a student, whether in a public or private setting, can access tutoring, enrichment, or a different learning environment that better meets their needs.

That is not a benefit for the wealthy. That is a lifeline for working families.

And it is especially important in a state like New Jersey, where the achievement gaps we talk about so often are still very real.

The uncomfortable truth is this, the students most likely to benefit from this program are the same students the NJEA says it is fighting for.

Who Does the NJEA Actually Represent?

This is the fundamental question New Jerseyans need to ask, and it has an honest answer.

The NJEA represents teachers. That is its role. That advocacy matters.

But children are not members of the NJEA.

And when given a choice between expanding access to academic support for students, including public school students, and maintaining control over how education resources flow, the union has made its priorities clear.

Opposing a program that provides scholarships for students, including those who would use them for tutoring and academic support in public schools, because some portion of funds might also support other educational options is not about protecting students. It is about protecting a system.

And it comes at a cost.

Because every day we delay, real students, especially those already behind, lose access to real help.

The Sherrill Administration Should Lead

Governor Mikie Sherrill has made K–12 education the centerpiece of her administration, proposing a record $12.4 billion investment in public schools. That commitment is real and should be recognized.

But leadership is not just about how much we spend. It is about whether we are willing to use every available tool to help students succeed.

Twenty eight states, including Democratic led states, have already opted into this program while maintaining strong public school systems. They have recognized a simple truth, expanding access to scholarships, tutoring, enrichment, and academic support is not a threat to public education, it is a complement to it.

New Jersey can do the same.

Opting in does not require abandoning public education. It requires recognizing that public school students are not well served by political purity that leaves real resources sitting on the table.

The Bottom Line

New Jersey has 1.3 million public school students. Hundreds of thousands of them are behind. Literacy rates in many communities are a moral emergency.

And there is a federally supported scholarship program, funded through private donations, already active across the country, that can put real resources into the hands of families right now.

For scholarships. For tutoring. For academic support. For real help.

The NJEA’s opposition is not about protecting school funding. It is about drawing a line in the sand, even if it means leaving those resources on the table.

New Jersey families will pay into this system either way.

The only question is whether their children will benefit.

On this one, the answer should be obvious.