School choice sounds good in theory. The question that matters is whether it actually works for the kids who use it. Florida has been answering that question for 25 years, and the results are not close to ambiguous.
A Quarter Century of Data, Not a New Idea
Florida has run the largest school choice program in the country since 2001. More than 500,000 students are enrolled today. That is not a pilot or a small-scale trial. It is a program that has now operated at scale for long enough to produce a real track record, and the record is extraordinary.
Students who received scholarships showed measurable gains in academic achievement, higher high school graduation rates and higher college enrollment, compared to similar students who did not receive scholarships. These are not isolated results from a handful of schools. They are outcomes documented across a program that now serves more than half a million students.
The Students Who Needed It Most Benefited the Most
The gains were not spread evenly, and that is the part of the story worth sitting with. The students who benefited most from school choice were the ones with the fewest alternatives: children from low-income households, children in underperforming schools, and children whose only other option was whatever school they happened to be assigned based on their zip code.
School choice did not just produce good outcomes on average. It produced the largest gains for the students who had the least access to options before it existed. That is the case for school choice in a single sentence: a proven solution, not an experiment, for the kids who need it most.
Be the First to Know
Get notified when the Education Freedom Tax Credit launches so you don’t miss the opportunity to support K–12 students while benefiting from a federal tax credit.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit Takes That Model National
For 25 years, Florida’s results have made the case for school choice one state at a time. The Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) takes that proven model national for the first time. It is the first federal school choice tax credit in American history, and it is built on a model with two and a half decades of evidence behind it, not a new theory.
Donors who give in 2027 are not funding an experiment. They are extending to more students, in more states, an opportunity that has already changed hundreds of thousands of lives in Florida alone.
The mechanics are straightforward. You make a charitable contribution to a qualified Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) like AFC Scholarship Fund. That contribution earns a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700, which you claim when you file your federal taxes the following year. Contributions above $1,700 are treated as a standard charitable deduction, and any unused credit can generally carry forward for up to five years.
The Bottom Line
School choice is not a theory anyone has to take on faith. The EFTC takes that proven model national for the first time, and every donor who gives in 2027 is extending a track record that already exists, to students who are still waiting for it.
The EFTC kicks off in 2027. Register now with AFC Scholarship Fund to be ready when donations open in 2027.
Yes. In Florida, the largest and longest-running school choice program in the country, students who received scholarships showed measurable gains in academic achievement, higher high school graduation rates and higher college enrollment, compared to similar students who did not receive scholarships.
Florida has run the largest school choice program in the country since 2001. More than 500,000 students are enrolled today.
The students with the fewest alternatives benefit most: those from low-income households, those in underperforming schools, and those whose only other option was the school they were assigned based on where they live.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit is the first federal school choice program in American history. It takes a model already proven at the state level, most notably in Florida, and makes it available nationwide starting in 2027.
You donate to a qualified SGO like AFC Scholarship Fund, and that contribution earns a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700, claimed when you file your taxes the following year. Contributions above $1,700 are treated as a standard charitable deduction, and any unused credit can generally carry forward for up to five years.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit launches in 2027. You can register now to be ready when donations open.
