New Education Freedom Opportunities for Religious Families
by Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel
President Trump’s new Education Freedom Tax Credit will soon give more families the opportunity to provide a religious education to their children.
Beginning in January 2027, taxpayers who donate to qualifying scholarship-granting organizations may claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700. Married couples filing jointly may claim up to $3,400. Unlike an income-tax deduction, which merely reduces taxable income, this credit directly reduces federal tax liability.
You can see if your state has opted in here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/schoolchoice/
Governors and state leaders face a clear choice. They can open the door to privately funded educational opportunity, or they can deny their families access to a federal program available elsewhere. States should opt in—and affirm that educational freedom belongs to every family, including those who choose a religious education.
Some Fights Go All the Way. You Help Us Get There.
First Liberty has two cases that will be heard this winter and seven additional case requests pending. Fighting at the Supreme Court costs First Liberty millions of dollars. So, we’re launching a Supreme Court Defense Fund to help us reach new heights.
Will you join with us and give to this Fund? Stand with First Liberty’s clients by donating today.
Why America Is Constantly Coming to a Fork in The Road
by Howard Goldthwaite, Director of Creative Strategy
Shortly after the Constitutional Convention concluded in September 1787, reporter Elizabeth Willing Powwel approached Ben Franklin and asked a simple yet profound question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
Franklin’s reported answer has endured as a reminder of the responsibility required to preserve a republic. It was profound and prophetic: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Franklin understood that America’s experimental republic was something very precious and vulnerable, and would take constant vigilance to protect.
Every election is also a fork in the road. Will we choose leaders who uphold the freedoms enshrined by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, or leaders with disdain for America’s history and tradition of religious liberty?
Decades from now, just as Ben Franklin warned, the republic will still be in danger of being lost. First Liberty’s prayer for our republic is that we’ll always be here to help keep it.
Leading The Conversation
The Ten Commandments, Classroom Walls, and The Establishment Clause – Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence | SCOTUSblog
Pro-life Activist Sues to End Anti-protest Zone Around Abortion Clinics ‘Unconstitutional’ – Senior Counsel Roger Byron | Fox News
Podcast | The Nanosecond Disavowal – Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy Senior Fellow Hunter Baker | The World and Everything In It
A World Without Stories – Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy Fellow Rachel Lu | Law & Liberty
Texas Can Post the Ten Commandments in Classrooms
In 2025, Texas required public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. This law has been challenged on two different constitutional fronts. Some argue that displaying the decalogue in classes coerces children. Others contend that their right to direct how their children worship is violated by displaying a Christian text.
Both claims miss the mark. Displaying the commandments on the wall neither coerces children to follow a particular belief, nor interferes with how parents raise their kids.
Recent Supreme Court cases bear directly on the constitutionality of Texas’s law. In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (a First Liberty case), the Court recognized that other students who heard the prayer may be bothered by the prayer, but were not coerced to join in.
The case is now at the U.S. Supreme Court, and I expect the Court to accept it, with a decision to come by July 2027.
Editors’ Picks
Firefighters Appeal Ruling Over Vaccine Religious Accommodation – WORLD Opinions
Vice President JD Vance on Augustine, Mamaw and the Power of Faith – Daily Citizen
Lessons on Liturgy and Legislation: Why the Church Should Speak to Politics – Washington Stand
Voting and the Lesser of Two Evils – Breakpoint
