Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program

This program offers tax credits to individuals who support STOs. STOs are required by law to consider the financial need of their applicants when awarding scholarships. Pre-kindergarten students are eligible if they have disabilities and attend a qualified school that offers services for any of the following conditions: hearing impairment, visual impairment, developmental delay, preschool severe delay, or speech and/or language impairment. A scholarship recipient is not eligible for Arizona’s ESA program. A recipient may participate in the state’s three other TCS programs, provided the sum of scholarships a student receives does not exceed the annual cost of tuition.

Honorable Mention Fact: This is the oldest operating TCS program in America.

Funding Mechanism: Private donors fund this program by donating to STOs. They receive tax credits for their donation, up to certain limits.

Universal Eligibility: ✅
Universal Usage: ❌
Universal Funding: ❌
Truly Universal: ❌

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

Funds from STO scholarships may only be used to pay for tuition at qualified private schools for full-time enrollment.

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

View program requirements for parents, schools, and scholarship granting organizations by clicking on each hyperlink.

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 43-1089; 43-1601 through 1605

(Last updated July 15, 2024)

On January 26, 1999, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this tax-credit scholarship program. This decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in October 1999, declined to review the case. The Arizona Supreme Court ruling was allowed to stand. Kotterman v. Killian, 972 P.2d 606 (Ariz. 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 921 (1999)   

On April 4, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, upheld Arizona’s personal tax-credit scholarships, ruling that taxpayers do not have standing under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment Establishment Clause to challenge a tax-credit scholarship program. The court rejected opponents’ position that personal income is government property, declaring: “Respondents’ contrary position assumes that income should be treated as if it were government property even if it has not come into the tax collector’s hands. That premise finds no basis in standing jurisprudence. Private bank accounts cannot be equated with the Arizona State Treasury.” Arizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn, 131 S. Ct. 1436, 179 L. Ed. 2d 523 (2011) 

(Last Updated July 15, 2024)