Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit

This program provides dollar-for-dollar tax credits for individuals or corporations that donate to SGOs. All Georgia students who attended a public school for at least six weeks during the prior school year are eligible for scholarships, as are those entering public school by enrolling in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, or first grade. Other students are eligible if one of the following applies: the public school for which the child is zoned is determined by the Office of Student Achievement to be a low-performing school, the student is the subject of an officially documented case of violence, verbal abuse, or threatened physical harm, or the student was enrolled in a qualifying home study program for at least one year before receiving the scholarship. The annual budget cap is $120 million. Participating corporations may receive credits for up to 75% of their annual tax liability, not to exceed $1 million, for corporations that pay insurance premium taxes.

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

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

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

Tuition and fees for nonpublic schools.

(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)

O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2A-1 through 7 and 48-7-29.16

(Last updated April 21, 2025)

On June 26, 2017, the Georgia Supreme Court in Gaddy v. Georgia Department of Revenue rejected a challenge to Georgia’s tax-credit scholarship program and ruled that plaintiffs had no standing to sue. Gaddy v. Georgia Department of Revenue, 802 S.E.2d 225 (2017). The original complaint, Gaddy v. Georgia Department of Revenue, No. 2014 CV 2445538 (Fulton County Super. Ct. Feb. 5, 2016), brought by four Georgia residents backed by the Southern Education Foundation, alleged that the tax-credit scholarship program violated the state constitution’s ban on providing public support to religious institutions, and several other constitutional provisions. The trial court affirmed the program’s constitutionality, observing that the tax credit would not “increase their taxes or drain the state treasury” and that “the program may actually save the state money.” Gaddy v. Georgia Department of Revenue, No. 2014 CV 2445538 (Fulton County Super. Ct. 2016)   

(Last updated July 15, 2024)