Federal scholarship money starts in 2027. For homeschoolers, one state-law question decides it.

The 2025 federal tax law created a permanent scholarship program (you will see it called ECCA, the Education Freedom Tax Credit, or just §25F): donors get a full federal credit up to $1,700 for gifts to certified scholarship organizations, and those organizations award K–12 scholarships starting January 2027. Like ESA and 529 money, it is set to arrive with paperwork: receipts, filings, and proof of what each dollar bought. Roughly 30 states have opted in. Whether a homeschool family can actually use the money is genuinely unsettled, and anyone telling you otherwise is ahead of the law. This page is the honest snapshot as of October 12, 2026, updated after Treasury published its proposed regulations on October 2.

Start the record

How the money flows

A donor gives to a certified Scholarship Granting Organization and takes a dollar-for-dollar federal credit up to $1,700. The organization verifies each applicant household’s income (the ceiling is 300% of area median gross income, which most families clear) and awards scholarships for qualified education expenses. The program is permanent and has no national cap. A state opts in for 2027 by January 1, 2027 and files its list of certified organizations by February 15, 2027, and the first scholarship dollars move in 2027.

The homeschool catch: what counts as a school

The statute defines qualified expenses through enrollment or attendance at a public, private, or religious school, and it borrows each state’s own definition of “school.” There is no homeschool category in the federal text. So the question lands on your state’s law:

State example	Classification
Texas	A homeschool has been treated as a private school since a 1994 state supreme court ruling.
Arizona	Statute defines a homeschool as a nonpublic school.
Virginia	Statute says parent-led home instruction is not a private school.

Most states are less explicit than these three. Treasury’s proposed regulations, published October 2, 2026, settle the federal half of the question: “school” means any K–12 school as determined under state law, so the state-by-state reading above is the federal reading too. They do not address part-time enrollment in a co-op or microschool by name; an expense still has to connect to enrollment or attendance at a school. The rules are proposed, comments close December 1, 2026, and a public hearing is set for December 15. We will update this page when they are final.

What a family can usefully do before 2027

Nothing needs applying for yet, and nothing here should rush you. Two things compound in the meantime. First, the record: scholarship money arrives with documentation duties, the way ESA and 529 money already does, and the family that captures coursework and expenses as they happen walks into any program ready. Second, the money that is already live: the 2025 federal 529 expansion covers homeschool-shaped expenses right now in most states, no scholarship organization required.

The proposed rules also describe how a scholarship organization can show the money went to qualified expenses: through a third-party platform that tracks approved purchases and either pays vendors directly or requires receipts submitted on time. Either way, receipts kept as purchases happen are what the process runs on.

Generate the documents from the record

The record is free for families, forever: capture, the expense log, the portfolio, the verifiable transcript, verification, export. Generating filled-in artifacts from it (an annual 529 expense file, an ESA quarterly report, a portfolio packet) is the one optional paid family service, part of Family Pro, $119 per year, and every document previews filled-in, free, first.

Why a family-owned record

Funding programs come with rules that shift, and families move between them: district compliance one year, an ESA the next, maybe a federal scholarship after that. The record that serves the student through all of it has to belong to the family, portable across programs and states, with every entry sealed and verifiable. The paperwork each program wants is a document that record produces, not the place it lives. Read the sovereignty contract.

Frequently asked questions

What is the federal scholarship tax credit (ECCA / EFTC)?

A 2025 federal law (IRC §25F, called the Educational Choice for Children Act or the Education Freedom Tax Credit) gives donors a 100% federal tax credit up to $1,700 for gifts to certified Scholarship Granting Organizations. Those organizations then award K-12 scholarships to eligible families. It is permanent, has no national cap, and takes effect for tax years after December 31, 2026, so scholarship money starts flowing in 2027.

Can homeschool families use ECCA scholarship money?

That is the open question, and it is a state-law question. The statute defines qualified expenses through enrollment or attendance at a school, with "school" defined by each state's own law. Texas treats a homeschool as a private school and Arizona defines it as a nonpublic school, so homeschoolers there look well positioned. Virginia's statute says parent-led home instruction is not a private school. Many states sit somewhere in between. Treasury's proposed regulations, published October 2, 2026, confirm that reading: they define "school" as any K-12 school as determined under state law. So the answer is still your state's law. The rules are proposed, not final, and comments are open until December 1, 2026, so no one can honestly promise a homeschool family this money yet.

Which states are participating?

States must formally opt in, and roughly 30 had done so or announced the intent by mid-2026. New York confirmed on October 9, 2026 that it will participate, on the Governor's condition that public school students benefit too; the details, and the formal election due by January 1, 2027, were still to come as of this page's date. Under Treasury's temporary rules, a state opts in for 2027 by January 1, 2027 and files its list of certified Scholarship Granting Organizations by February 15, 2027. Your state's participation and your family's eligibility are separate questions: a state can opt in while its homeschool classification still shapes what the money can buy.

Who qualifies for a scholarship?

Households at or below 300% of area median gross income, which covers the large majority of families, with the student eligible to enroll in a public K-12 school. The Scholarship Granting Organization verifies household income and family size each year. Individual organizations set their own application processes once certified.

What can a family do before 2027?

There is nothing to apply for yet. What compounds in the meantime is the record: documented coursework, work samples, and an expense log kept as purchases happen. Scholarship money arrives with documentation duties attached, the same way ESA and 529 money already does, and a family with the record habit walks in ready. If you want education money that is live right now, the 2025 529 expansion already covers homeschool-shaped expenses in most states.

What does this cost?

The record is free for families, forever: capture, the expense log, the portfolio, the verifiable transcript, verification, export. Generating filled-in artifacts, like an annual 529 expense file or an ESA quarterly report, is the one optional paid family service, part of Family Pro at $119 per year, and every document previews filled-in, free, first.