The Hoover Institution hosted "A $20 billion school choice tax credit program: Yes, no, maybe, how so?" on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 from 10:00am - 12:00pm EST. 

Since Donald Trump’s election and Betsy DeVos’s selection as Secretary of Education put private-school-choice programs in the national spotlight—after years of slow-and-steady growth at the state level—advocates across Twitter and the blogosphere have been offering ideas on what a big push at the federal level might look like.

Now we elevate those debates from the page to the stage. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Education Next, and the Hoover Institution have teamed up to bring forth two pointed discussions, each centered around a critical question.

First: To do or not to do? Neal McCluskey and Thomas Carroll debated the merits of a federal tax credit scholarship program: is there a role for Uncle Sam or will the feds inevitably muck this up?

Second: National, or state-by-state? Darla Romfo and Travis Pillow tackled the question of whether the initiative should require states to opt-in, and set the rules, or if a federal tax credit should allow for K-12 scholarships nationwide.

Moderators: 
Martin West, Education Next
Derrell Bradford, NYCAN

Debators:
Thomas Carroll, Invest in Education Foundation
Neal McCluskey, Cato Institute
Darla Romfo, Children's Scholarship Fund
Travis Pillow, Step up For Students