Greenwood Village Nonprofit Expands Scholarship Program to All 50 States

The dry wind off the Front Range rattles against the windows of a Greenwood Village office. Inside, Jason DiFraia is planning for a future that no longer looks like the one Colorado voters approved in 2000. ACE Scholarships, the nonprofit based in the town that sits between Denver and Littleton, is going national.

The organization announced Thursday it will expand its programming to all 50 states. It is also changing who gets the money. ACE Scholarships will now serve students attending public schools, charter schools, and homeschooling programs, not just private institutions.

The shift is a direct response to federal policy. The Trump administration is launching the Education Freedom Tax Credit program on Jan. 1, 2026. The rules are specific. A taxpayer who donates to a scholarship-granting organization gets a federal tax credit of up to $1,700. A two-income household can claim up to $3,400. Those organizations must use the funds for students in both public and private schools.

The credit covers a wide list of expenses. Tutoring, after-school programs, books, supplies, school fees, transportation, technology, internet access, and support for students with disabilities all qualify. The program is not limited to low-income families. It includes households earning up to 300% of the area’s median income.

DiFraia sees it as a tool for access. “It helps subsidize services that these families normally couldn’t have access to or, in some cases, if I wanted to send my kid to a private school, but I couldn’t afford it, now maybe I could,” he told The Colorado Sun. “And so it really opens up the door for families to have more choices for their child.”

ACE Scholarships was founded in 2000. It has operated in 13 states and distributed nearly 17,000 scholarships this year. The expansion to all 50 states is a massive logistical jump for an organization that started with a narrower focus.

Gov. Jared Polis signed Colorado into the program earlier this year. His reasoning was defensive. If Colorado didn’t join, donations from state taxpayers would flow to other states’ programs. Polis wanted the money to stay in-state.

That decision has created a political rift. Public school advocates and many Democrats view the federal tax credit as a backdoor voucher program. Vouchers route public funds to private schools, often with religious affiliations. Colorado voters have rejected voucher initiatives at least three times.

The short version: the federal government is using tax incentives to fund private education choices, and a Colorado nonprofit is scaling up to catch the wave.

The backlash is loud. Phil Weiser, the state Attorney General and a Democratic candidate for governor, opposes the expansion. He argues that federal tax credits are a covert attempt to establish a voucher system that state voters have already rejected. The distinction between a tax credit and a voucher is technical, but the political weight is heavy.

The program’s start date is fixed. Jan. 1, 2026. There is no delay mechanism mentioned in the announcement. The money starts moving then.

For locals, the implications are about where their tax dollars go and who benefits from them. The federal credit is a deduction for the donor, not a direct payment to the school. But the effect is similar. It lowers the cost of private education for those who can afford to donate, while simultaneously funding add-ons for public school students.

DiFraia’s organization is betting that the federal mandate will drive growth. The 17,000 scholarships distributed this year across 13 states are a baseline. The next number will be higher.

The question is whether the federal program survives its first year. It is a new mechanism with broad eligibility and significant political opposition. But the infrastructure is being built now, in offices like the one in Greenwood Village, while the political fight continues.

The expansion is happening regardless of local sentiment. ACE Scholarships is ready to serve students in every state, in every type of school setting the federal rules allow. The door is open.