Arizona has run its private-school tax credit since 1998. A taxpayer gives to a certified School Tuition Organization and takes the gift off their Arizona income tax dollar for dollar, up to the yearly cap. For tax year 2026 the original credit (Form 323) tops out at $787 for a single filer or head of household and $1,570 for a married couple filing jointly. A gift made as late as April 15, 2027 still counts toward the 2026 return.
Families do not get the credit; they get the scholarships the credits pay for. Each STO keeps its own list of schools, its own application and its own award rules. Across the state, STOs took in $233.3 million in fiscal 2025 and awarded scholarships to 44,815 students, a count that may include a child funded by more than one STO. Of the 323 Valley schools in our directory, 253 appear on at least one STO's published list.
Most Phoenix-area schools sit on several lists at once. IBE, APSTO, School Choice Arizona and APESF serve schools of all kinds; ACSTO and AZTO serve Christian schools; Catholic Education Arizona serves the Diocese of Phoenix; the Jewish Tuition Organization serves Jewish day schools; Greater Arizona Inc. serves Muslim students. A family can apply to several STOs for the same child, and many do.
Here is the rule that shapes every Valley family's plan: an STO scholarship and the ESA cannot both fund the same child in the same year. The ESA contract says so in statute, and the Diocese of Phoenix tells its families the same. Some STOs will hold an award as a multi-year scholarship for later use if your child is on the ESA now, so ask each one how it handles that. A family with three children can still put one on the ESA and keep two on STO scholarships.
Timing matters. ACSTO opens next-year applications on Feb 3 and runs its spring cycle through March 31; IBE opens Feb 1; Catholic Education Arizona's first 2026-27 round ran Feb 1 to Apr 15. Apply early, and ask relatives who owe Arizona tax whether they would direct a gift to the STO your school uses, keeping in mind that STOs cannot award money solely because a donor asked them to.
STOs with Phoenix-area schools on their lists
| School Tuition Organization | Phoenix-area schools on its list | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IBE | 191 | Tucson-based multi-school STO; lists more Valley schools than any other |
| APSTO | 158 | Scottsdale-based; K-12 students at qualified private schools of any kind |
| School Choice Arizona | 140 | Chandler-based; mostly low-income corporate scholarships |
| APESF | 87 | Multi-school "best fit" STO operating since 1999 |
| ACSTO | 73 | Christian schools; the largest STO by money raised since 1998 |
| Catholic Education Arizona | 30 | The Diocese of Phoenix STO; applications through FACTS |
| Jewish Tuition Organization | 10 | Phoenix-based; Jewish day schools and yeshivas |
| AZTO | 5 | Christian schools; (602) 295-3033 |
| Students First Foundation | 3 | Mainly corporate scholarships; weighs merit and need |
| Arizona Episcopal Schools Foundation | 3 | Episcopal member schools such as All Saints' and Christ Church |
| Greater Arizona | 3 | Supports Muslim students at Islamic schools and programs |
Counts schools in our directory that appear on each STO's published school list (Oct 2026). A school on a list can receive scholarships through that STO; an award is never guaranteed.
Combining it with other sources
This source works alongside a school's own discounts and payment plans. The one hard limit in Arizona is that a child cannot hold an ESA and an STO scholarship in the same school year, so each child goes down one path, and siblings may go down different ones. Our funding check lays out the choice for each child.