The tax credit initiative is part of this year's House Bill 1, which gave Sec. of State Michael Adams the authority to sign Kentucky up for the program. Once approved, individuals could receive up to $1,700 in dollar-for dollar tax credits for donating to scholarship granting organizations, or SGOs.
Those donations could go to public or private school causes.
Beshear vetoed the measure, arguing it amounts to another attempt to funnel public dollars into private schools. Republicans easily overrode the veto in March, saying the move does not spend any Kentucky tax revenue or divert state dollars.
GOP lawmakers have sought different ways to support or encourage private and charter schools in the state, arguing parents and students deserve more choices when it comes to education — though the attempts have met with legal challenges and setbacks.
This federal program was signed into law as part of 2025's One Big, Beautiful Bill.
With the documents now given to the IRS, Adams wrote that "the president, Congress, the General Assembly, and the secretary of state have Kentucky students' backs."