Weingarten and Pringle Issue Marching Orders on School Choice Scholarships.
This week, the heads of the two most powerful teachers unions in America sent an open letter to the nation's 24 Democrat governors.
The message was blunt: Don't you dare opt into the new federal school choice scholarship program – or else.
Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers and Becky Pringle of the National Education Association called the program…
“a Trojan horse carrying near-universal K-12 private school vouchers into every state that participates – even states where voters have rejected vouchers at the ballot box.”
They also reminded those governors that opting in would mean defying the Democrat National Committee platform.
“Endorsing this voucher program,” they wrote, would mean disregarding “the wishes of voters.”
That's a nice way of saying: we own you, act like it.
What the Program Actually Does
Let's set the record straight on what Weingarten and Pringle are trying to kill.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act established the federal school choice tax credit scholarship when President Trump signed it into law in July 2025.
It's a non-refundable tax credit allowing individuals to receive up to $1,700 in federal tax credits for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, which distribute funds to eligible families for educational expenses including private school tuition, tutoring services, and textbooks.
Not a dime comes out of public school budgets. Not one dollar.
The Trump administration and program advocates have stressed it doesn't touch a single dollar of state education funds.
The scholarships are funded through private donations. The tax credit is the donor's. The education benefit goes to the child.
And Nevada's kids can already access it – because Governor Lombardo officially announced in January that Nevada will opt in, saying the program “empowers families with the freedom to choose education options that best fit their children's needs.”
Nevada Fought This Battle for Years
I've watched this fight up close. Democrats in Carson City have blocked every serious school choice expansion for a decade.
The Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program – the Opportunity Scholarship – is constrained by a maximum amount of donations set by state statute at $6.65 million, keeping enrollment under 2,000 students.
Every time Lombardo tried to expand it, the Democrat-controlled Legislature killed it.
So now the federal government created a program with no cap, no state appropriation required, and families with incomes up to 300% of area median income can qualify.
And the unions want to shut it down before it starts.
Nevada ranks among the nation's lowest in per-pupil school quality rankings.
Lombardo himself has said the traditional education system isn't working and the state needs to “do something different.”
He's right. The unions don't like hearing it, but he's right.
The Real Question
Here's what Weingarten and Pringle's letter makes crystal clear: this was never about kids.
It's about control. It's about money flowing through a system that rewards the unions, not the families they're supposed to serve.
One education reform professor predicted that more Democratic governors will eventually join the program to avoid leaving money on the table – noting that unions are “telling Democrat governors to scare away education dollars.”
Nevada parents don't have to wait for that fight to play out in other states. Governor Lombardo already made the right call.
My job, if voters send me to Carson City in November to represent Assembly District 37, is to make sure we build on that momentum – not let the unions claw it back in the Legislature.
Nevada's kids come first. Not the unions.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
