Private-school vouchers have usually been shunned by Democrats.
But as President Trump prepares to roll out his signature school-choice program, his administration is trying to reassure members of the opposition party that its effort breaks the mold.
Like other school voucher programs, the federal plan — the first of its kind — will provide taxpayer dollars for parents to spend on private school tuition. But at a closed-door event at the Treasury Department on Tuesday, Kevin Salinger, a Trump administration official, told education advocates that the program will also benefit public schools and their students.
Public-school parents will be able to spend the funds on after-school tutoring or supplemental special-education services, for example. And public schools can provide some of those extras, though they may need to set up affiliated nonprofits or companies in order to accept the funds.
The Treasury Department event was described to The New York Times by several attendees, and The Times obtained a summary of Mr. Salinger’s remarks.
Final regulations are expected in September.
The Trump program, known as the Education Freedom Tax Credit, was signed into law last year. It represents a new, potentially bipartisan framework for federal education policy, and has made for unusual allies, including some religious conservatives and prominent Democrats.
Governors have the choice of whether to opt their states into the program. So far, the only Democratic governors to sign on are Kathy Hochul of New York and Jared Polis of Colorado. But other Democrats who initially said they would opt out — including the governors of New Mexico, Oregon and Hawaii — have recently indicated that they are reconsidering.
“The tide is turning,” said Jorge Elorza, chief executive of Democrats for Education Reform and a former mayor of Providence, R.I. He spoke at the Tuesday event alongside other centrist school-choice supporters.
Mr. Elorza has been lobbying Democratic state lawmakers to participate in the program despite its association with a president they revile, arguing that the money will allow Democrats to fund the after-school, enrichment and tutoring programs they have long supported.
“If policymakers are making their decision strictly on the merits, they will see it’s a no-brainer,” he said.
The Treasury Department did not respond to requests for comment. An Education Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
The program does not reduce existing school funding. It is paid for through a federal tax credit. Beginning next year, individual taxpayers will be able to donate up to $1,700 annually to nonprofits that will bundle the money and redistribute it in the form of scholarships to pay for tuition, tutoring and other education expenses. The tax credit is unusually generous, allowing donors to reduce their tax bill by $1 for every $1 they donate.
About 90 percent of American families will be eligible to apply for the scholarships — all those earning up to 300 percent of their area’s median income, which is over $300,000 in some parts of the country.
The program is not as large as its conservative supporters had initially hoped, and it could provide only limited support for home-schooling, another disappointment to many Republicans.
But it is structured to grow over time. It could eventually become one of the largest federal funding streams for K-12 education, totaling tens of billions of dollars annually, said Joshua Cowen, an education professor at Michigan State University and expert on private-school choice.
Dr. Cowen has long opposed state-level voucher programs because of their potential to reduce public-school budgets. But he argued it made sense for states to opt into the federal program, because public schools can actually increase their revenue by providing covered services like tutoring.
“In what world would closing the door to new revenue make any sense?” he asked.
Dr. Cowen predicted that almost every governor would eventually choose to participate in the program.
Still, there remain fierce critics of the plan within the Democratic establishment.
Randi Weingarten, the influential president of the American Federation of Teachers union, said, “The use of public dollars for private voucher schemes remains anathema. While it’s a good thing that the political backlash has resulted in some potential uses for public school parents, vouchers are never a substitute for direct, sustained investment in public education.”
A group of state teachers’ union leaders are preparing a national push to ask Democratic governors to reject the program.
And Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, who is considered a potential Democratic presidential contender, has introduced a bill to repeal the plan. He has likened it to Arizona’s state-level education savings accounts, which have disproportionately benefited wealthy families.
Arizona and most other Republican-leaning states already have sweeping private-school-choice programs that allow taxpayer dollars to fund private-school tuition and home-schooling materials. While earlier voucher programs were often reserved for low-income families, affluent parents now have access to the funds in many states, often using the money to subsidize tuition bills they previously paid out of pocket.
Democrats, teachers’ unions and some parents’ groups have argued for decades that directing tax dollars toward private schools leeches students and funding from public education; weakens accountability for academic outcomes; and further segregates schools by class, race and religion.
Even many rural conservatives long opposed vouchers, since there are often few private schools in their counties, and public school districts are major employers and centers of community life.
But the politics of the issue have shifted significantly since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Public schools in some Democratic-leaning states were closed for more than a year, and students returned to school struggling academically and socially, with parents seeking out new forms of support.
In response, some Democrats have urged governors to opt into the Trump program, including Arne Duncan, who served as education secretary under President Barack Obama.
Support has increased among rural Republicans, as well. The rise of virtual home-schooling and microschools — tiny, often unregulated private schools run out of homes, churches and store fronts — convinced more rural policymakers to see vouchers as a viable choice for their constituents.
Michael C. Bender and Sarah Mervosh contributed reporting.
