Florida approves another new education voucher funding group
Tampa Bay Times | Jeffrey S. Solochek & Divya Kumar| May 19, 2026
The big story: A new funding organization with ties to public charter school company Academica has entered the $3.9 billion market for school choice vouchers.
The AltaVia Foundation won State Board of Education approval Thursday to serve as a scholarship funding organization and administer the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, Family Empowerment Scholarship and New Worlds Scholarship Accounts.
Until earlier this year, only Step Up For Students and the smaller AAA Scholarship Foundation served as recognized scholarship operators, with the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning supporting the New Worlds Reading Initiative. In February, the Sunshine State Kids Foundation was approved amid calls for more transparency in the system.
Some advocacy groups also complained that Step up for Students was operating as a monopoly.
AltaVia was formed as a nonprofit in 2024 with the mission to “expand K-12 educational opportunity for low- and moderate-income families by pairing need-based scholarships.”
The registered agent of the nonprofit is listed on LinkedIn as corporate counsel at Academica, a company that runs public charter schools through networks including Somerset and Mater Academy.
Its president, Judith Marty, is currently president of the Academica-affiliated Doral College and former chief academic officer at Mater Academy. Its vice president Bernardo Montero, is listed as special adviser to Marty at Doral and Somerset Academy Inc. president.
“Florida families deserve access to educational opportunities to best meet the individual needs of their children,” Marty to board members. “Every student learns differently. Every family has different challenges. Educational flexibility can make life changing differences.”
The group aims to disperse around $178 million in scholarships by its third year of operation.
