NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul intends to opt New York into the Republican-backed federal tax-credit scholarship program that would expand school choice across the state by helping nonprofits offering financial assistance for private school expenses raise money, her office said Friday.

The program will provide a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donors to scholarship-granting nonprofits. In turn, the organizations will give families who make up to 300% of the local median income dollars for private school tuition, tutoring, and other school-related costs.

The tax credit was created in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump last summer. The program was quickly embraced by Republican-led states, but only one Democratic governor has opted in so far: Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has said he intends to opt in after more details of the program are released.

“Governor Hochul is supportive of the federal tax credit scholarship and its potential to help New York students and schools,” said Emma Wallner, a spokeswoman for the governor.

“Our office awaits information from the federal government on the program and will thoroughly review the details of the policy for poison pills that could harm New York’s education system.”

Proponents of the program have framed it as a no-brainer to benefit New York families, while critics warn it could divert students, and the funding that follows them, away from local public schools.

If New York did not opt in, the state’s taxpayers could still claim the tax credit, but those dollars would have gone toward scholarship programs in other, so far mostly Republican-led states.

Hochul, a moderate Democrat running for re-election this year, faces a Republican challenge from Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive. She did not face a primary after her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, dropped his bid as the path narrowed for a candidate to Hochul’s left.

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