Paying for private Montessori

Arizona STO Scholarships, Explained

Arizona lets taxpayers redirect state income tax into private school scholarships through nonprofit School Tuition Organizations (STOs). The donor gets a dollar-for-dollar tax credit; your family gets tuition help. It's one of the most generous school choice systems in the country — and most Montessori families are eligible for something.

The four scholarship types

Original Individual

Who: Any K-12 private school student

Funded by individual taxpayer donations. No income limit.

Switcher (Overflow) Individual

Who: Students switching from public school, entering kindergarten, and several other categories

A second individual credit stacked on top of the Original.

Low-Income Corporate

Who: Families under an income cap (generous — a large share of families qualify)

Funded by corporate donations; includes public-school-switch requirements similar to Switcher.

Disabled / Displaced Corporate

Who: Students with an IEP/504 or MET, or who have been in foster care

No income limit for this category.

How much can donors give?

Every individual Arizona taxpayer can redirect this much of their state income tax — dollar-for-dollar — to fund scholarships (donations by April 15 can count for the prior tax year):

Credit	Tax Year 2025	Tax Year 2026
Original (Form 323)	$769 single · $1,535 married	$787 single · $1,570 married
Switcher (Form 348)	$766 single · $1,527 married	$784 single · $1,561 married
Combined max per donor	$1,535 single · $3,062 married	$1,571 single · $3,131 married

On top of individual donations, corporations fund the Low-Income (statewide cap: $135M/year) and Disabled/Displaced (cap: $6M/year) scholarship pools. One family's student can receive awards from several pools at once.

How families actually use it

1
Pick STO-friendly schools
Any private Montessori school in Arizona can partner with STOs. Use our directory filter to see schools that accept STO scholarships, and ask each school which STOs their families use most.
2
Apply to STOs directly
Each STO has its own application (usually opening in spring for the following school year). Families typically apply to several STOs at once — awards can be combined.
3
Recruit recommenders
Individual tax-credit donations can be recommended for a specific student (donors can't claim their own dependents). Grandparents, friends, and coworkers redirect state taxes they'd owe anyway.
4
Stack awards each year
STO awards are paid to the school, not to you. Many families combine individual, switcher, and corporate awards to cover a large share of tuition — reapply every year.

Major Arizona STOs

These are some of the largest certified School Tuition Organizations. Ask your school's admissions office which ones its families use — the Arizona Department of Revenue publishes the full certified list.

STO or ESA — what's the difference?

	STO Scholarships	ESA (Empowerment Scholarship Account)
Funding	Donor tax-credit dollars, paid to the school	State education funds deposited to a parent-directed account (open to all AZ K-12 students since 2022)
Can you combine them?	No — a student cannot use an ESA and STO scholarships in the same period. Families choose one path.
Best for	Families with recommenders and schools with strong STO relationships; awards can exceed ESA amounts	Predictable per-student funding, homeschool + microschool flexibility

Ready to look?

Browse private Montessori schools that participate in the STO program, then ask each school's admissions office which STOs to apply through — they do this every day and will walk you through it.

Find STO-friendly schools →

This page is a plain-language summary, not tax or legal advice. Credit amounts and eligibility rules are set by the Arizona Department of Revenue and adjust annually — verify current figures at azdor.gov and with your tax professional.