Ag News
LTS helps ag families send students to schools of their choice
Posted on Oct 07, 2026 at 14:07 PM
Learning to Serve (LTS), a Georgia Student Scholarship Organization (SSO), offers scholarships to increase school choice opportunities for children of Georgia farmers and Georgia families whose income depends on agricultural businesses. These families can apply for scholarships at accredited K-12 private schools through LTS if their students are serving in the community and meet the state’s SSO eligibility requirements.
SSOs were established by the Georgia Qualified Education Expense (QEE) Tax Credit Bill of 2008. LTS scholarship amounts vary based on factors such as the student’s age, the quantity and quality of the student’s community service, and the amount of the school tuition. LTS considers each student’s story individually.
“The QEE Tax Credit Bill of 2008 allows businesses or individuals that pay Georgia income taxes to decide where some of their taxes are spent. Every tax dollar redirected through an SSO, like Learning to Serve, is a strategic allocation of dollars you would have to pay in state taxes,” explained LTS Executive Director Mandy Hudson. “Businesses or individuals that allocate money to an SSO receive a Georgia income tax credit. This is not a donation.”
LTS allows businesses and individuals to designate funds to a specific school or allocate them into the organization’s general fund to help where it’s most needed.
Businesses and individuals have until Dec. 1 to submit tax credit applications to redirect their 2027 state income taxes to fund school choice scholarships for Georgia agriculture families through LTS. Visit www.learningtoserve.org/donor-information/ for more information and to complete the LTS tax credit application.
LTS has been partnering with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture (GFA) since 2024 to help Georgia farm families and Georgia families whose income depends on agriculture to earn scholarships to the schools of their choice. Students who receive LTS scholarships must complete community service hours.
Since LTS and GFA began working together, 106 scholarships totaling $254,060 have been awarded to students of Georgia agriculture families in 19 counties statewide. These students have put in more than 1,000 hours of service.
Hudson says that LTS recipients put in the work to earn their scholarship.
LTS encourages students to serve their communities in ways that integrate their or their family’s passions and interests. Examples of ways students may do their service hours are through their church, Scouts, 4-H, FFA, animal shelters, road litter clean-ups, food pantries, Special Olympics/adaptive sports, Relay for Life, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. The main requirement of the service hours is that the student’s community service benefits others and the child grows from their service project.
“These students are taking responsibility and easing the financial burden of tuition on their families while growing a heart to serve others,” Hudson says. “It’s a win for all involved.”
“The tough economy that most Georgia farmers have been experiencing since 2024 have made it very hard for Georgia agriculture families to fund quality education options for their children in rural areas,” said GFA Executive Director Andrew Schmidt. “GFA appreciates the businesses and individuals who have directed their state income taxes to Learning to Serve to help families in rural Georgia overcome financial barriers to education so students can attend the schools of their choice.”
Founded in 2009, LTS has awarded nearly $10 million in scholarships to 4,000 Georgia students who have served more than 30,000 hours in their communities. For more information, contact LTS’s Mandy Hudson at 404-867-3365 or mandy@learningtoserve.org.
LTS student scholarship applications for the 2027-28 school year will open Feb. 1, 2027. Students may complete the application at www.learningtoserve.org from Feb. 1- March 15, 2027.
To learn more about the college, technical college and UGA Veterinary College scholarships the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture annually awards or the many ag education opportunities GFA offers Georgia students, visit www.gafoundationag.org or email Andrew Schmidt at agschmidt@gafoundationag.org .
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