On Friday afternoon both the House and Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia voted favorably on the amendment submitted by Governor Glenn Youngkin to restore the full funding of the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit program (EISTC).
Back on June 1, 2022, the Virginia General Assembly voted on and approved the 2022-2024 budget. In the budget compromise process, one of the many amendments that was adopted reduced the budget cap of the EISTC from $25 million to $12 million. The impact of that cut would significantly reduce the number of scholarships available for low-income students to attend a private school that meets their education needs. The budget was then sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
Nonpublic school families, and groups from across the Commonwealth and beyond, including Agudath Israel, immediately engaged in an outreach campaign to the Governor, imploring him to reject this devastating cut by offering an amendment of his own. Not long after, Governor Youngkin responded by proposing an amendment that would restore full funding to the EISTC. However, an amendment from the Governor still needs legislative approval by a majority vote in both House and Senate. The leadership of the Virginia Senate is held by the Democrats with a 21-19 edge. The Virginia House is in control of the Republicans by a 52-48 edge. With concerns that a party line vote would hold up the passage of this critical amendment, a second outreach campaign was swiftly undertaken ahead of the Special Session in Richmond on Friday June 17th. In the end, the constituent outreach was effective with the Senate voting unanimously in favor of the amendment to restore the full funding and House voting 58-42 in its favor.
“The Special Session vote to restore the EISTC funding is a big win for the nonpublic school community,” said Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Agudath Israel’s Mid-Atlantic director. “Thank you Governor Youngkin for the amendment and thank you to the legislators for voting in its favor!”