This week, W/A Senior Vice President Evo Popoff is filling in for Ben.

Today, the Treasury Department and the IRS released proposed regulations for the new federal scholarship tax credit (Section 25F, the FSTC, the Education Freedom Tax Credit; take your pick). The statute written into the One Big Beautiful Bill left a lot open to interpretation, and the field has been waiting months to see which way Treasury would lean.

The answer: Where the law was ambiguous, the proposed rules generally chose readings that allow more donations and make it easier for Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) to operate. Treasury projects more than 11 million taxpayers giving roughly $26 billion a year by 2030, enough for about 2 million full-time scholarships.

Some of the rules are clear now. Others will take more guidance or will be worked out during implementation. Here's what we know so far, from what's settled to what's still open:

Settled. The $1,700 cap applies to each individual, so a married couple filing jointly can claim up to $3,400 if each spouse gives $1,700. Any state scholarship credit is subtracted from the gift before the federal cap applies, which benefits donors in states with their own scholarship credits. Unused credit carries forward for up to five years.

Treasury also defines broadly where an SGO is "located." An SGO only needs to be authorized to do business in the state and follow its charity laws. It does not need a headquarters or staff there, and states cannot add stricter requirements. As a result, national organizations can operate in several states, as long as they have a separate account for each one.

Settled, with requirements specified. The statute says little about how scholarships are paid, and the proposed rules set out three options. SGOs can reimburse families who submit a receipt, pay schools directly for tuition and related charges, or pay verified vendors that are not related to the student. The rules also define a "qualified digital wallet," a third-party platform that approves vendors, tracks expenses, and pays vendors or collects receipts.

SGOs also get some flexibility on operating requirements. One of the most-discussed requirements has been that 90% of SGO income go to scholarships for eligible students. However, the new rules allow a single-state SGO that does at least 85% scholarship work to set up a separate account for federal tax credit scholarships—a “25F account”—and apply those requirements to that account instead of the whole organization. The segregated account, recordkeeping, reporting, and oversight requirements still apply, but the proposed regulations let an organization apply that test to its 25F account alone. 

Not yet settled. State law determines what counts as a "school." That is straightforward for public, charter, and private schools. It is less clear for homeschools, microschools, and other models, because not every state treats them as schools. Qualified expenses must be tied to a student's enrollment at a school, so the same question affects what families can buy with a scholarship. Treasury says separate guidance on schools and qualified expenses is a high priority and is forthcoming.

Additionally, a safe harbor lets SGOs skip household income verification for tutoring and special needs scholarships at schools in low-income areas. In exchange, the SGO must give the state an annual third-party audit. The audit must certify, among other things, that services "met appropriate quality standards." Commenters will likely ask Treasury to define those standards.

A key feature of the new federal program—one that’s been drawing interest from Democratic governors around the country—is that public school students are eligible to benefit. The rules do not explicitly place new duties on school districts. However, SGOs will need enrollment confirmations from schools and, under the safe harbor, student selections and supporting documentation. Districts do not yet have a process for providing this information.

The IRS also needs to build the systems the program depends on. These include a portal for SGO registration, a portal for state elections and certifications, and a system of unique donor numbers. None of these exist yet.

These proposed rules open a 60-day comment period that runs from their October 2 publication in the Federal Register, with a public hearing on December 15 at 10 a.m. ET (requests to attend are due December 10). 

We'll keep watching as the rules take shape, and if you're trying to figure out what this means for your organization, we'd love to talk it through.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education formally repealed the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX interpretation, which extended sex-based discrimination protections in school to students on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy-related conditions. Schools must now revert back to the Title IX code from 2020, which hold that Title IX protections are strictly on the basis of sex and impact how schools handle sexual harassment and related disciplinary proceedings.

The Education Department has enforced the 2020 Title IX rules passed during the first Trump administration through guidance for nearly two years, and opened investigations into several institutions regarding transgender athletes in women’s programs. But until now, ongoing litigation that ultimately rejected the Biden-era rules has prevented the Trump administration from taking more formal action.

According to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, this move “restores the commonsense language” to Title IX, reflects the Trump administration’s broader effort to hold schools and colleges accountable for violating the “rights, privacy, or athletic opportunities” of women and girls.

Conservative groups, including the Defense of Freedom Institute, have praised the Trump administration’s final rule. DFI President Bob Eitel, who helped craft the 2020 framework, said in a statement, “Relegated to history’s dustbin, the Biden administration’s notorious Title IX rule was a textbook example of how extremists can hijack a law to force radical changes in American society through its schools, colleges, and universities.” [POLITICO]

Opponents argue that the rollback is harmful to transgender and gender-nonconforming athletes and weakens protections for sexual assault victims. Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, said, “While the administration is unlawfully eroding protections for trans students under the guise of ‘protecting women and girls,’ they are systematically weakening the very laws that keep students safe and schools accountable.”

Expect to see legal pushback. The final rule did not undergo the typical notice and public comment process. The Education Department shared that a public comment period would have been “contrary to public interest,” as it would have delayed the effective date of the rule.

The Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson called the decision a “monstrous injustice,” and pushed back in a statement, “The fact that they’re dropping this rule into place abruptly, without a comment period, denying families, educators, loved ones and the students themselves a say in how they should be treated, shows how little they care about the safety of our students.”

How can district leaders make sure students with disabilities are receiving the best support as they transition out of school?

A new funding primer from Whiteboard Advisors and Urban Collaborative details how school districts can access funding for Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), historically underutilized federal dollars to support job training, coaching, and skill-building for students with disabilities. Pre-ETS are for any students with a documented disability, IEP, or 504 plan, but the majority of eligible students are not accessing these services.

Pre-ETS can help bridge the employment gap between young people with disabilities and their peers without disabilities, which was 22.5% among 20-24 year olds in 2025. One Pre-ETS provider, Daivergent, reports 83% of students who participated in their transition services transitioned to college, jobs, or internships.

The Dana Center and WestEd released this week its 2026 State of Math Pathways report, which investigates how all 50 states and Washington, D.C. are building coherent, high-quality math pathways. States’ math pathway maturity were assessed based on implementation of nine key actions, which reflect the policies, supports, and conditions necessary for systemic changes in math education. The report revealed that no state has fully implemented all nine key actions, with K-12 placement and educator preparation being the two least developed areas nationally.

For states planning to tackle disparities in math education with legislation, a new playbook from ExcelinEd may serve as a helpful starting point. ExcelinEd’s Secondary Math Model Policy is designed for grades 9-12, and pairs a common two-year foundational sequence with at least three upper-level math pathways that public colleges must accept for admission. The model policy also requires automatic enrollment in co-enrolled support courses for ninth graders who need them.

Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,651 career opportunities from 329 organizations across the education industry. Hiring? For $250/month or $1,000/year, organizations can post an unlimited number of jobs with no per-job fees.