More than 3,200 Virginia students are receiving more than $10.6 million in private scholarship funds thanks to the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit, says Chris Braunlich, vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Education shows that students receiving EISTC scholarships are less wealthy, more likely to live in urban environments, and more likely to be children of color than the average public school student in Virginia.

Unlike many tax breaks, this tax credit provides a net benefit to Virginia taxpayers. Says Braunlich: “The loss of revenue to the state resulting from donors using the state tax credit is more than offset by the loss of expense to the state from not having to continue educating students who depart the public school system.”