PODCAST: | “Freedom to Learn:” Darla Romfo on Putting Kids First, Building a Scholarship Granting Network, & Engaging in Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Rulemaking

The federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations could expand the Children’s Scholarship Fund’s impact nationwide.

In our final episode of the year, Darla Romfo, President and CEO of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, joined the Freedom to Learn podcast to trace the origins of the nation’s most influential privately-funded school choice efforts. Darla recounts how CSF’s founders, Ted Forstmann and John Walton, sparked a national movement by empowering low-income families with educational choice. She also details the potential impact of the newly-enacted Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, describes its bipartisan support, and explains what effective implementation will require from governors, donors, and scholarship-granting organizations. Check out highlights from our conversation below and listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform. Freedom to Learn will take a break over the holidays. We’ll be back with a new episode on January 8!

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Darla Romfo on the Origins of the Children’s Scholarship Fund

“I love talking about our two co-founders. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about both of them. They had a big impact in my life.”

“They came together for the Washington Scholarship Fund and they saw what a good thing it was and decided that they wanted to take it nationwide.”

“They saw the power of the privately funded scholarships. They saw the demand for them and they saw the power it could have, in the larger context, to change the whole landscape of education.”

“We’ve never varied or moved from it that if you help one life, you’re doing a great thing. As Ted would say, ‘you change a life, you change the world.’”

“They put up $100 million of their own money, raised another $100 million, and they had partners all over the country.”

On Demand for School Choice

“[When Children’s Scholarship Fund launched in 1998], they had a million two hundred and fifty thousand applications for the 40,000 scholarships.”

“People didn’t really think about poor people… really being able to make those kind of choices or being that concerned about what the education was for their children.”

“In places like Baltimore, 40% of the eligible population applied for a scholarship.”

“Poor families do want options. They do want something different.”

On Bipartisanship and Keeping the Focus on Kids

“What was really incredible about Ted and John is that it was so bipartisan.”

“This is about kids.”

“We haven’t really taken our education system to a place where everybody is getting the kind of education they need to survive and to thrive.”

“We just have to make it about the kids.”

“The parents are our customers and the kids are the whole reason we do this.”

On Why CSF Focuses on Providing Scholarships to K–8 Students

“If you don’t learn to read by the time you’re in fourth grade, your chances are pretty bleak going forward.”

“If you are in a private school in eighth grade, it’s like three or four times as likely you’re going to graduate from high school and go on to something else.”

“It seemed like it was a really smart and intentional and good thing when you have limited resources to focus on those K-8 years.”

On the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit: The Big Idea

“Beginning in 2027, every taxpayer in the country who has a tax liability… [you can redirect the funds] to CSF during that 2027 year, or to another scholarship granting organization that’s qualified, for $1,700 or whatever amount up to $1,700, and you get that amount taken off your tax bill dollar-for-dollar.”

“It’s an opportunity for young people, for all different kinds of people who never thought they had the ability to be a philanthropist to suddenly become one.”

“Do I want to give it to the federal government or would I like to give it to a scholarship granting organization and help children?”

On State Opt-In and Competitive Pressure

“The qualified scholarship granting organization can only spend it in a state where the governor or appropriate body has opted in.”

“That’s a limiting factor in terms of the children who can benefit.”

“If the governor and other people in leadership see all that money leaving their state because they haven’t opted in…”

On Implementation and Rulemaking

“I’m very encouraged, first of all, by the kinds of questions that [the Treasury Department] is asking.”

“The important thing is keep it simple, layer it on top of what’s already working.”

“Don’t add a lot of new additional complicating factors.”

“If you make it too complicated to take the tax credit, a lot of people might just say, ‘Oh, that’s too much bother.’”

“You really need to make it as easy as possible so people will actually participate.”

On Collaboration, Growth, and New Scholarship Organizations

“There’s enough work for everyone.”

“The pie gets bigger if we all work together and expand the pie.”

“We want to see a thousand flowers bloom.”

“The way that it’s structured, it could cover 90% of the kids in this country.”

Busting the Biggest School Choice Myth

“They say often that it hurts public schools. This is not about helping or hurting schools.”

“If you give kids an option… theoretically that should improve the public school because they should want to compete for that child.”

“It’s not about whether we help or hurt schools. It’s like whether we help or hurt kids.”

“That’s really what this is all about.”