At AAA Scholarship Foundation, everything we do is driven by a single belief: that every family deserves the freedom to choose the educational setting that is right for their child. That is why we have spent nearly two decades connecting students with scholarship opportunities that open doors, expand horizons, and ensure that a family’s zip code does not determine a child’s future.
Today, we are sharing news of an important step we have taken to defend that mission.
On May 22, 2026, AAA filed a formal legal challenge with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, seeking to have a proposed amendment to Rule 6A-6.0960 of the Florida Administrative Code declared invalid. This rule, proposed by the Florida Department of Education and/or the State Board of Education in April 2026, would place new and unlawful restrictions on how scholarship funding organizations (SFOs) like AAA transfer excess scholarship funds to other eligible organizations — funds that exist to serve students and families.
What the Proposed Rule Would Do
Under Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program, scholarship contributions from taxpayers go directly to SFOs like AAA, which then use those funds to provide scholarships to eligible students. When an SFO has more funds than it can carry forward, the law requires those net excess funds to be used for scholarships or transferred to another eligible SFO ensuring that every dollar continues to benefit students.
The proposed amendment seeks to change the rules governing those transfers in ways that are not authorized by Florida law and that would ultimately hurt the very families the program is designed to serve. Specifically, it would:
- Bar newer SFOs from receiving transferred funds unless they have been operating for at least three consecutive years, a restriction that has no basis in Florida statute and that would cut off scholarship dollars from students served by newer organizations;
- Create a priority system that favors established SFOs over others based on organizational finances, rather than the needs of the students those organizations serve; and
- Grant a single government official broad, unchecked discretion to decide which organizations receive private scholarship funds, with no standards or criteria to guide that decision.
Why We Are Challenging It
The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program funds managed by AAA and other SFOs are private funds, they are not state tax dollars, and they are not government money. Courts have consistently recognized this. When taxpayers contribute to an SFO, those funds belong to its scholarship program. The government does not have the authority to direct or control the distribution of those private resources beyond the statutory requirements of the program.
With that fact as the backdrop, our petition sets out four independent grounds on which this proposed rule is invalid under Florida law:
- The rulemaking process itself was flawed: the proper agency head never approved the rule for publication as required by law.
- The agencies involved exceeded the authority granted to them by the Florida Legislature; the statute governing the scholarship program simply does not authorize rules of this kind.
- The proposed rule goes beyond and contradicts the specific statute it claims to implement.
- It gives unchecked, standardless discretion to a government official in a way that Florida law does not permit.
What We Are Fighting For
We want to be clear about what we are asking for: we are asking that this proposed amendment be withdrawn entirely. We do not believe it can or should be fixed with modifications. Its fundamental premise is wrong. Government overreach into State and Federal Tax Credit Scholarship Programs threatens the independence, flexibility, and family-centered focus that make those programs work.
We are also fighting for the future of educational choice. If agencies can impose arbitrary barriers to entry on newer scholarship organizations and place private scholarship dollars under unchecked government control, it will chill the growth of the Tax Credit Scholarship ecosystem and reduce the choices available to families.
AAA has proudly served students and families since 2010. We will continue to advocate in courtrooms, in hearing rooms, and in the public square for Tax Credit Scholarship Programs that put families first, keep government in its proper lane, and ensure that every child has access to the education they deserve.