# 119-s-487: CHOICE Act

119-s-487, CHOICE Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC] (R-SC); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-487
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-487
- Congress: 119
- Title: CHOICE Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-02-06
- Sponsor: Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC] (R-SC)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Expanded school choice options** for low-income District students, children with disabilities, and military dependents. The bill revises DC opportunity scholarships, creates a new IDEA-based state option letting parents direct funds to private schools, and pilots scholarships for military kids on installations. - Families in Washington, D.C.: Broadens opportunity scholarship eligibility to students who are currently enrolled or who will be enrolled next school year in a public or private elementary or secondary school. This targets low-income students served under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act. - Parents of children with disabilities: Authorizes a state option under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to let parents use public or private funds to pay private school costs with federal special education funds allowed to supplement state assistance. The option includes up to three years for planning and initial implementation and sets rules on accreditation, accountability, nondiscrimination, and religious accommodations. - Military families on installations: Creates a five-year pilot awarding scholarships to eligible military dependents with initial maximums of $8,000 for elementary and $12,000 for secondary students in year one, adjusted annually for inflation. *Authorizes $10 million per year for FY2025–2029 for the military scholarship pilot and offsets that amount by returning $10 million per year from Department of Education salaries and expenses to the Treasury, suggesting little net change to the federal ledger for those years.*

## Cosponsors (1)

- Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS), 2025-02-06T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Military base school scholarships: benefit, high. If enacted, this would start a five‑year pilot to give parents on selected military bases cash scholarships for school costs. The scholarship would pay the lesser of actual tuition/fees/transportation or a yearly cap. The first full school year cap is $8,000 for elementary and $12,000 for secondary…
- Optional IDEA parental funding choice: benefit, high. If enacted, States could offer a parent‑option under IDEA letting parents use public and some federal IDEA funds for private school costs. Federal funds could top up state or private money, but yearly federal payments to a child could not exceed that child’s tuition, fees, and transportation for th…
- State tax credit for education donations: benefit, high. If enacted, States could allow a state tax credit for donations to groups that give money to parents of eligible students with disabilities. Those donated funds could be used by parents for tuition, fees, and transportation at a selected school. This change would affect state tax rules and would no…
- Expanded DC opportunity scholarship rules: benefit, medium. If enacted, the DC Opportunity Scholarship eligibility would explicitly cover students who are enrolled now or will be enrolled next school year. The change also names private school enrollment in the eligibility language. This would let more low‑income DC families apply for and use scholarship mon…
- Department of Education $10M offset: cost, low. If enacted, the Secretary of Education would return $10,000,000 of Department salaries‑and‑expenses funds to the Treasury for FY2025 and each of the next four fiscal years. That would reduce the Department’s salaries and expenses money by $10 million each year.

## Related bills

- 119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-s-292: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025
- 119-s-2651: ROAD to Housing Act of 2025
- 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act

## Sources
- [119-s-487 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/487)

## Related
- [119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2296)
- [119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4784)
- [119-s-1541: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1541)
- [119-s-292: Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-292)
- [119-s-2651: ROAD to Housing Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2651)
- [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-487 (as of 2025-12-21).