School choice super PAC targets anti-school choice Republicans with $10 million

American Federation of Children (AFC) President Tommy Schultz told Fox News Digital that his organization is fighting to remove anyone hostile to school choice ahead of the 2026 midterms.

“We’re the only school choice super PAC out there. Last year we distributed more than $10 million to places like Texas and a dozen other states,” Schultz told Fox News Digital. He continued: “We’re really preserving and solidifying all of these huge historic victories that have happened at the state level over the last four or five years.”

Schultz told Fox News Digital that the AFC Victory Fund spent $15 million across 200 races.

AFC’s Victory Fund, founded in 2024, is an individual-issue super PAC dedicated to school choice; On the other hand, pro-school election super PACs such as Club For Growth and Parent Party generally address a variety of issues related to education.

Schultz noted that the school choice movement has seen tremendous success over the years, with Republican governors embracing universal school choice and the Trump administration launching a federal tax credit grant. While Democrats have generally advocated allocating taxpayer money to traditional public schools, Republicans have also done so with the support of teachers unions.

“Historic victories in places like Texas set the tone to remind every Republican who opposes school choice: You’re probably going to lose the next election,” Schultz said. he said. “At the end of last year, for example, we defeated anti-school Republican Jody Barrett in a race for Congress.”

Barrett lost the GOP congressional primary in Tennessee last year to Matt Van Epps.

Barrett wrote a column In November 2025, he called on conservatives to reject the voucher demand as a key conservative issue. Barrett opposed Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s private school voucher program because it “subsidizes tuition for those who already pay,” as the program is mostly used by the “wealthiest counties in the state.”

“Although the administration deliberately failed to track where scholarship recipients were previously enrolled, data shows that nearly 90 percent were already enrolled in private schools,” Barrett wrote. “It is possible to support school freedom and oppose a bad bill,” he explained further in his article.

Republicans representing rural districts have often rejected school choice policies such as vouchers or charter schools because most states restrict parents to schools within their zip code or the school district that presides over their residential district, so schools in rural areas tend to face funding challenges due to low enrollment and scarce resources.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs gives a brief speech in Tempe, Arizona, on September 28, 2023. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

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Rural Republicans’ opposition to school choice policies has caused governors in Texas, Iowa, and Tennessee to have difficulty passing universal school choice plans. Governors participated in their party’s primaries to help drum up support for candidates who oppose school choice. Concerns include the receipt of money. traditional public schools It can be used to increase teachers’ salaries, invest in public school facilities, and hire more teachers.

“The 2026 election cycle is about solidifying the monumental victories of school choice over the last five years,” Schultz said. “We have passed 80 laws in 30 states that have essentially tripled the number of students taking advantage of the private school choice program.”

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The AFC Victory Fund played an instrumental role in implementing Texas’ education savings account programs. The program has been a huge success since its launch on Feb. 4, becoming the “largest school choice program in the country,” a spokesperson for the Abbott administration told Fox News Digital.

The success is attributed not only to Abbott but also to the AFC Victory Fund, which supports candidates who advocate school choice, seek to pour more dollars into public schools and target Republicans with a history of voting against school choice policies. Now the AFC’s Victory Fund is covering the gubernatorial race in Arizona, where universal school choice policy is under threat.

Arizona In 2022, it became the first state to offer universal school choice to all families, launching an $800 million program that gives parents $7,000 to put toward their child’s tuition. Many other states followed; While this suggests that parents are increasingly looking for alternatives to traditional public schools, many school districts in America’s major cities have suffered a loss of students since the pandemic.

American Federation of Children President Tommy Schultz told Fox News Digital that his organization is fighting to remove anyone hostile to school choice ahead of the midterms.

Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account program exceeds 100,000 participant threshold, Earlier this month, according to Center Square.

The school choice program was launched in 2011 and initially served only students with special needs. According to the report, the program had only 12,127 students in 2022, when it became universal. Considering the current total, there was a 725% increase in the number of participants.

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Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs reportedly wants to downsize program. Initially, the Democratic governor tried to eliminate the program overall.

“We’re going to play intensely there,” Schultz said.

Hobbs did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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