The Center for Christian Virtue has announced that its Christian Education Network initiative is expanding with eight state affiliates. In 2024, The Heritage Foundation awarded the center $100,000 to support its Education Restoration Initiative and expand the Ohio Christian Education Network schools model across the country.
Aaron Baer, the president of the Center for Christian Virtue, spoke with the Daily Signal about the expansion, agreeing it was a “full circle moment,” as the grant money was used for this purpose.
According to the Center’s announcement, the eight state affiliates include not only Ohio with the Center for Christian Virtue, but also the Alaska Family Policy, the Frontline Policy in Georgia, the Indiana Family Institute, The Family Foundation in Kentucky, the Massachusetts Family Institute, the Pennsylvania Family Council, and The Family Foundation of Virginia.
The affiliates “will organize and equip Christian schools to engage policymakers, defend their ability to operate according to their beliefs, and advocate for policies that give parents greater control over where and how their children are educated,” the announcement said.
As Baer also explained it, these affiliates act “as partners in states all over the country to help us recruit” and “help Christian schools maximize the opportunity to reach more kids.”
The Massachusetts affiliate is particularly noteworthy, given that the commonwealth hasn’t officially opted into a state tax credit for school choice, though Baer pointed out that “they’re launching an affiliate with us because families in those states can still give to the tax credit.”
“That’s one of the things that we’re doing with this is we’re saying, ‘Hey, this is a huge opportunity for us,’ to get families all over the country, to be giving, to help kids escape from these failing public schools.”
Ohio plays a major role in providing a model. “What we’re really doing is we’re taking the Ohio model of the Ohio Christian Education Network, and we’re setting it up in states all over the country,” Baer explained, given that it’s “been so successful.” When the Ohio Christian Education Network was launched in 2018, he also shared, about 14% of Ohio students were out of public schools, and now it’s about 22%.
As the press release also explained, “[Christian Education Network] grew out of the success of the Ohio Christian Education Network, which has built a statewide coalition of Christian schools and become an influential voice on education policy in Ohio,” adding that the “national network is designed to help leaders in other states build similar coalitions tailored to their own communities and policy environments.”
“We’re seeing a huge growth in kids leaving the public education system and accessing a high-quality Christian education,” Baer said. “And now, because of this new federal school choice tax credit, we’re able to help other states replicate this model,” he added, referring to a provision of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” signed into law in July of last year.
“It’s really cool to see all these states come on with us, and we’re expecting to have many more over the next few months,” Baer also previewed.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]
