History
ACSTO was incorporated in 1998 for the sole purpose of implementing the Original private school tuition tax credit law that was enacted in 1997 as A.R.S. Section 43-1089; and now ACSTO also works with the Overflow/PLUS tuition tax credit law that was enacted in 2012 as A.R.S. Section 43-1089.03. Since it began in 1998, ACSTO has awarded over $100 million in scholarships to 20,600 students attending 150 Arizona Christian schools. Over 54,000 visionary Arizona taxpayers have made this possible by donating to ACSTO, and they were able to take advantage of Arizona's unique opportunity to receive a dollar-for-dollar credit against their Arizona state income tax. ACSTO was founded by David J. Harowitz, Richard Bellah, and Steven B. Yarbrough. Each is an attorney in Maricopa County with a significant history of leadership in their local church and various Christian organizations. The goal of ACSTO's leadership and staff is to further Christian education in Arizona.
Specialties
ACSTO is a scholarship organization committed to supporting Arizona K-12 private Christian schools and their families. We specialize in Arizona's tuition tax credit laws and the processing of tax credit donations, which funds all our scholarships. Notice: A school tuition organization cannot award, restrict or reserve scholarships solely on the basis of a donor's recommendation. A taxpayer may not claim a tax credit if the taxpayer agrees to swap donations with another taxpayer to benefit either taxpayer's own dependent.