Denver mother leverages new federal tax credit to secure private school for adoptive daughter
Mariah Wakefield used ACE Scholarships' Education Freedom Tax Credit to enroll her adoptive daughter Jasiya at Kent Denver School and is now urging other parents to consider the option.
After assuming legal guardianship of Jasiya following her mother’s death in 2013, Mariah Wakefield faced housing and personal hardships while seeking a suitable education for the child. Assistance arrived when ACE Scholarships, a nonprofit that provides privately funded scholarships, used the Education Freedom Tax Credit—a federal incentive allowing individuals to claim up to $1,700 (or $3,400 for married couples) for contributions to qualifying organizations—to cover tuition at Kent Denver School.
The program, championed by Donald Trump, requires state governors to opt in; more than half of the states have done so, with Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis publicly supporting it. ACE has begun a national “Make It Possible” advertising push aimed at Democratic-controlled states such as New York, Washington, D.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Kansas City, Orlando and Philadelphia. Wakefield now urges other parents to consider the option, arguing that financial barriers should not limit children’s educational potential.
Why it matters
The story shows how a new federal tax credit could expand private-school access for low-income families across the U.S.
In this story
