For the first time in a decade, the Kansas Low Income Students Tax Credit Scholarship program reached the $10 million cap set by the legislature at its inception.
The program allows individuals and corporations to claim a 75% state income tax credit for donations to approved Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) that provide scholarships to eligible low-income students to attend private schools.
But in 2025, for the first time, students were turned away due to a lack of funds.
“Multiple SGOs in Kansas had to tell donors they couldn’t take their donation last year and its Kansas kids who will suffer,” said James Franko, President of the Kansas Policy Institute, which owns The Sentinel. “Kansas kids trying to find the right educational fit are going to be turned away because donors had to be turned away from the program.”
President of ACE Scholarships — one of the SGOs in Kansas — AJ Kuhle, agreed.
“We’ve also had to, unfortunately, turn away students,” he said. “I think this last year, I think we had about 1,100 kids that were turned away because we just didn’t have the funds for it.”
