(1) Make a tax credit contribution. Give online, and your contribution will qualify for a 100% dollar-for-dollar tax credit against your AZ state income tax obligation.

(2) Stay informed about school choice. Check out websites like Arizona School Choice, Arizona School Tuition Organization Association and Arizona Department of Revenue for the latest on school choice initiatives.

(3) Thank your local leadership for their support. The governor’s office, state legislators, school boards, places of worship and corporate donors all have a hand in making school choice possible. Be sure to let those in your community know you care.

(4) Share your story! Contact us online or by email to let us how your family benefits from school choice tax credits.

Scholarships provided from donations that claim the additional (PLUS) credit are restricted to benefitting students that fit into specific categories that encourage school choice:

STUDENTS THAT BENEFIT FROM “PLUS” DONATIONS:

A. Students that attended a governmental primary or secondary school as a full-time student or attended a preschool program that offers services to students with disabilities for at least 90 days of the prior fiscal year and transferred from a governmental primary or secondary school to a qualified private school.

B. Enroll in a qualified school in a Kindergarten program.

C. Is the dependent of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is stationed in this state pursuant to military orders.

D. Received an educational scholarship or tuition grant under paragraph A, B or C above, and the children continue to attend a qualified school(s) in a subsequent year(s).

• The FIRST $503 donated to a School Tuition Organization (or $1,006 for married Arizona taxpayers filing jointly) must be claimed on Form 323 before the second (PLUS) credit can be claimed.

• The second donation of $500 for single taxpayers or $1,000 for married Arizona taxpayers filing jointly is eligible for an additional state tax credit and requires completing Form 348 to claim the credit. No credit can be claimed on a Form 348 until the maximum credit is claimed on the Form 323.

• Donors will need to disclose on the Donation Form the tax year(s) they intend to claim the credit(s).

A special meeting of the Arizona Student Tuition Organizations and the Department of Revenue is scheduled for the first week of May 2012 to finalize the process and procedures that support the new PLUS program.

IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO PROCESS THE NEW “PLUS” DONATIONS ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 1, 2012

The program allows Arizonans to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for donations to School Tuition Organizations (STO), which then allocate scholarships to deserving students. The more than 50 nonprofit STOs in Arizona award scholarships annually to about 27,000 students.

“The Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit Program works. Now, it’s constitutionally has been affirmed. Parents should be able to choose the school best meeting their children’s education needs, and this program empowers them to make that choice,” said Deborah Sheasby, Legal Counsel for Center for Arizona Policy.

Center for Arizona Policy filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the program, along with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Christian Legal Society, and several religious liberty organization and scholars.

The Supreme Court ruled in the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn case that the opponents of the program, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, lacked standing to challenge the 14-year-old program. The Court also ruled that the tax credits which Arizonans receive for donations to STOs are private dollars, not state money. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said:

“Like contributions that lead to charitable tax deductions, contributions yielding STO tax credits are not owed to the State and, in fact, pass directly from taxpayers to private organizations. 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.”

The tuition tax credit program saves the state millions of dollars annually. The average scholarship is just a fraction of the amount the state spends to educate each child. Dr. Charles North of Baylor University found that the state saves anywhere between $44 million to $186 million. Read his reporthere.

“Everybody wins with scholarship tax credits – parents are able to educate their children in the schools they believe are the best fit, and the state saves money,” said Sheasby.

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF OTHER ARTICLES RELATED TO THIS RULING.

Recent changes to the law, while positive, have mandated new operational requirements for School Tuition Organizations like APESF to ensure the integrity of this vital program and proper stewardship of public funds. Among these changes is a requirement that all School Tuition Organizations must consider financial need as part of their application review and scholarship award process. Donor recommendations are still permitted but cannot be the only basis for scholarship awards.

APESF has embraced these changes by including a pre-qualification step in our application review process. By determining the need and merit of each applicant in advance, APESF is now able to provide our applicants with a pre-qualified funding goal that will take the ambiguity out of the process and establish a strong basis for securing donation support from individuals. It will also assist APESF in raising support from the greater AZ community to benefit your family and others.

Donations that include recommendations for pre-qualified applicants will likely result in a scholarship award for those applicants. Scholarship awards will not exceed the pre-qualified funding goal and/or the actual balance of tuition due for the current school year.

Distributions will not be sent monthly for pre-qualified applicants by the 15th of each month.

Washington, D.C. (November 2, 2010) – School choice will again take center stage in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, November 3, at 10 AM EDT as the constitutionality of a scholarship tax credit program in Arizona is argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case, Winn v. Garriott, focuses on Arizona’s Individual School Tuition Organization Tax Credit Program, which allows individuals to claim tax credits for making contributions to nonprofit organizations that provide private school K-12 scholarships to predominantly disadvantaged children.

The program was first challenged on constitutional grounds by a variety of special-interest groups more than a decade ago and was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court in 1997. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) then challenged it again, and finally found a receptive forum in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which struck it down. Nine states and a multitude of civic organizations, including the American Federation for Children, filed amicus briefs in favor of the program earlier this year, resulting in the high court’s decision to hear arguments on Wednesday.

Advocates will forcefully argue that the program allows for a true open market of parental choices in education consistent with the high court’s ruling in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, which upheld the Constitutionality of appropriately-designed school choice programs. The program benefits nearly 30,000 primarily-disadvantaged children attending more than 375 schools via scholarships from 54 School Tuition Organizations.

“This lawsuit should not be a close call, given that the U.S. Supreme Court consistently has upheld parental choice programs,” said Clint Bolick, director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and one of the nation’s leading defenders of parental choice. “A victory in this case will be a victory for schoolchildren across the nation.”

An October 2010 study demonstrated that the program primarily benefited low-and-middle income families, and that the program dramatically expanded the ability of parents to select the best schools for their children-public, private, independent, or religious.

One of those parents is Scott Collins of Gilbert, Arizona. After Collins’ wife, Sheri, died of a rare type of cancer, Collins-who was beset by medical bills-was faced with the prospect of removing four of his five children from the best school they had ever attended. The Individual School Tuition Organization Tax Credit Program, and the scholarship organization TOPS for Kids, provided scholarships for his children.

“If it was not for TOPS, the kids would not have had a chance at all to attend a school with great teachers who care for the kids and will help each of them when they need special attention,” Collins said. “I would recommend TOPS as well because with my low income and trying to provide ‘alone’ for my family now, without Sheri’s income coming in, they would not have this chance.”

“If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Tuition Tax Credit, as I believe they will, the long-fought battle over who decides what academic and spiritual tenets will be placed in the minds and souls of America’s children will make a pivotal and historic turn toward Mom and Dad,” said U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ). “It will be a very good day for America and her future generations.”

The U.S. Solicitor General and the Attorney General of Arizona will speak in support of the program before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. The case has, to this point, been argued on behalf of children participating in the program by the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national legal organization protecting and defending school choice programs.

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For more information, please visit www.FederationForChildren.org

Media Contact:
Andrew Campanella, andrew@ccgstrategies.com, 202-276-1303