Arizona

Arizona has five private school choice programs: one education savings account (ESA) program and four tax-credit scholarship programs. The ESA program allows parents to customize their child’s education, which can include private school tuition as well as tutoring, online learning, educational therapy and more. Tax-credit scholarships help families afford to send their children to participating private schools.

“Switcher” Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program

• Arizona offers tax credits to individuals supporting school tuition organizations (STOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships to students in need.
• Enacted 2012

Program Rules:

• • Income Limit: None 
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide 
  • Enrollment Cap: None 
  • Scholarship Cap: None 
  • Testing Mandates: None 
  • Credit Value: 100 percent 
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: $608 (individual) / $1,214 (married)  
  • Total Tax Credit Cap: None 

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

• Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program allows parents to withdraw their children from public, district or charter schools and receive a portion of their public funding deposited into an account for defined, but multiple, uses, including private school tuition, online education, education therapies, private tutoring or future educational expenses.
• Enacted 2011

Program Rules:

• • Income Limit: None 
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: Yes, with exceptions 
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide 
  • Enrollment Cap: No 
  • Account Cap: 90 percent of charter funding  
  • Testing Mandates: None 
  • Additional Information: Limited to students with special needs, students in low-performing schools, children of active military members stationed in Arizona or those killed in the line of duty, children of parents who are legally blind, deaf or hard of hearing, students in foster care, siblings of current or previous ESA recipients, students eligible to enroll in a program for preschool children with disabilities and children living on a Native American reservation.

Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program

• Arizona offers tax credits to businesses and stockholders supporting school tuition organizations (STOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships to students with special needs and those in foster care.
• Enacted 2009

Program Rules:

• • Income Limit: None
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: None
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide
  • Enrollment Cap: None
  • Scholarship Cap: 90 percent State Funding
  • Testing Mandates: None
  • Credit Value: 100 percent
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: None
  • Total Tax Credit Cap: $6 million
  • Additional Information: Limited to students with special needs and students in foster care

Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program

• Arizona offers tax credits to businesses supporting school tuition organizations (STOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships to low-income students in need.
• Enacted 2006

Program Rules:

• • Income Limit: 185 percent x FRL
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: Yes
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide
  • Enrollment Cap: None
  • Scholarship Cap: $5,600 (K–8), $7,500 (9–12)
  • Testing Mandates: None
  • Credit Value: 100 percent
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: None
  • Total tax Credit Cap: $135 million

Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program

• Arizona offers tax credits to individuals supporting School Tuition Organizations (STOs), nonprofits that provide private school scholarships to students in need. This tax-credit scholarship program allows taxpayers to receive tax credits for their donations to nonprofit organizations that provide school scholarships to K–12 students.
• Enacted 1997

Program Rules:

• • Income Limit: None 
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: None 
  • Geographic Limit: Statewide 
  • Enrollment Cap: None 
  • Scholarship Cap: None 
  • Testing Mandates: None 
  • Credit Value: 100 percent 
  • Per Donor Credit Cap: $611 (individual) / $1,221 (married) 
  • Total Tax Credit Cap: None 

To find out more about educational choice programs in your state, please complete the below form.