A Belief That Every Child Deserves a Chance

ACE Scholarships was born from one simple but radical idea: that where you’re born should never dictate your future.

The ACE Origin

It started with a bold idea in Colorado.

2000

ACE founded in Colorado to give lower-income families access to school choice. It was founded by Alex Cranberg, Charlie Gallagher, Ed McVaney, John Seaman, and John Walton.

Loren Koszowski is one of the first ACE Scholars to receive an ACE scholarship. Today she is a founder of Spruce Community school in Colorado Springs, an ACE partner school.

2012

Montana founded by Greg and Susan Gianforte

2015

Kansas founded by Redbud Foundation

2017

Texas founded by Cathy and Alex Cranberg as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

Missouri founded as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

2020

ACE entered national policy work in 2020 with its role in Espinoza v. Montana. Since then, it has worked with families, lawmakers, and partners to expand educational freedom—helping advance ESAs in Louisiana and Texas. Today, ACE continues to champion school choice and protect every family’s right to choose the education that fits them best.

2023

Mississippi founded by Matt Stuller, Boysie Bollinger, Dr. William “Kip” Schumacher.

DelMarVa founded by an anonymous donor.

2026

For over 25 years, ACE has championed educational freedom, delivering over 121,000+ scholarships totaling over $395,000,000. And we are just getting started.

2001

Norton Rainey, current ACE CEO, comes on staff at ACE Scholarships.

2014

Louisiana founded by Eddie Rispone

2016

Wyoming established by the True Family as a part of the Stand Together partnership

2018

Arkansas anonymously founded as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

2022

New Mexico and Utah founded by the Daniels Fund

2025

Hawaii founded by Ed and Kathy Bernau.

The ACE Origin

It started with a bold idea in Colorado.

2000

ACE founded in Colorado to give lower-income families access to school choice. It was founded by Alex Cranberg, Charlie Gallagher, Ed McVaney, John Seaman, John Walton.

Loren Koszowski is one of the first ACE Scholars to receive an ACE scholarship. Today she is a founder of Spruce Community school in Colorado Springs, an ACE partner school.

2001

Norton Rainey, current ACE CEO, comes on staff at ACE Scholarships.

2012

Montana founded by Greg and Susan Gianforte

2014

Louisiana founded by Eddie Rispone

2015

Kansas founded by Redbud Foundation

2016

Wyoming established by the True Family as a part of the Stand Together partnership

2017

Texas founded by Cathy and Alex Cranberg as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

Missouri founded as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

2018

Arkansas anonymously founded as a part of the Stand Together partnership.

2020

ACE entered national policy work in 2020 with its role in Espinoza v. Montana. Since then, it has worked with families, lawmakers, and partners to expand educational freedom—helping advance ESAs in Louisiana and Texas. Today, ACE continues to champion school choice and protect every family’s right to choose the education that fits them best.

2022

New Mexico and Utah founded by the Daniels Fund

2023

Mississippi founded by Matt Stuller, Boysie Bollinger, Dr. William “Kip” Schumacher.

DelMarVa founded by an anonymous donor.

2025

Hawaii founded by Ed and Kathy Bernau.

2026

For over 25 years, ACE has championed educational freedom, delivering over 121,000+ scholarships totaling over $395,000,000. And we are just getting started.

We don’t just fund scholarships. We change lives. Because Changing Education Changes Everything.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to advance K-12 educational freedom, with a focus on securing financial support for families so they may access the quality education of their choice.

Founding Principles

The founders were well versed in education reform dating back to the early 1980s when A Nation at Risk was published. Milton Friedman’s book Free to Choose was also an inspiration to them, as were pioneering education reform efforts in Milwaukee and Cleveland.

The founders’ greatest inspiration was the late John Walton, who through his philanthropy encouraged leaders around the country to do something about an education system that doesn’t work for all kids, particularly students of color from low-income families. He was an early proponent of, and investor in, programs that provide immediate relief to students through privately funded programs offering private school choice.

As Ralph Nagel put it, “the education of our children is the most important issue in our country and giving parents the ability to choose a school that works for their child is the simplest and most impactful reform we can champion.”

Each of the ACE founders grew up in middle-income families and benefited greatly from the benefits of competition in business. Their personal life stories became the foundation of their belief that all families should be able to choose the academic environments that are right for their children. In every area of life where we have competition, products and services improve. Free enterprise breeds competition, which leads to innovation and efficiency and creates an accountable, customer-focused culture. If parents are able to leave, schools will work harder to keep them. This conviction was forged through the founders’ personal beliefs that America is the greatest country in the world and that democracy, free markets and competition work, allowing anyone to achieve the American Dream.

Ed McVaney observed, “Free markets work and should be the basis of our education system because parents can then choose the right school for their children.”

The founders believed that parents, not government bureaucrats, know what is best for their children. Alex Cranberg explained, “ACE was created to empower parents to choose the best school for their children. Our mission is to ensure that parents and children have the ability to figure out which place fits them best.” Every child is different. Parents know their children the best and are therefore the best decision-makers for their children.

The founders were impartial to the choice parents make, instead believing parents know best. ACE, therefore, does not limit the private school choices for parents or seek to influence parents in the choices they make other than financial eligibility, as defined by the federal Free & Reduced Lunch (FRL) guidelines. Over subsequent years, the ACE governing board has relaxed these financial requirements for families to better serve the communities we serve. However, in the spirit of our founders’ vision, in every circumstance, ACE families have significant financial need. Typical ACE families of four currently earn around $56,000 annually and an ACE scholarships can cover up to half of a school tuition, with a current cap of $3,000 for K-8 and $4,000 for high school. The ACE model expects parents to pay for a portion of their child’s tuition, and we know this comes at a great financial sacrifice. We also know that by having skin in the game, families are more invested and likely to succeed.

As Alex Cranberg reflected on this dynamic, “If they are coming to the table with their children, with their hopes, and with their money, I don’t see how we can fail them by not at least coming to the table with some funds.”

During their initial investigation into how to improve education in America, our founders were struck by the quality and care that small private schools offer. These are not the elite college-prep schools that today charge $20,000 or more for tuition. Most private schools are small, humble enterprises with tuitions currently in the $8,000 to $12,000 range, but were able to do amazing things for kids. And these were schools with open seats and a willingness to serve low-income students who had been previously struggling in public school.

“You could see that there was tremendous hope. That there were places in Denver where people were doing wonderful things with kids that weren’t supposed to be having wonderful things happen to them,” Alex Cranberg recalled.

The founders learned that the majority of private schools were faith-based and that in addition to finding a school that shared their family values, families chose such private schools because of safety and access to quality academics. Today, more than 85% of ACE partner schools are faith based.

For more than 25 years, as ACE data have demonstrated, year after year, that private schools offer all children a great education. ACE students usually enter their private schools one or two years behind grade level, but within three years at their new schools, catch up and thrive.

Yellow People Icon in a black circle

The founders subscribed to the great American principle underlying both our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution: all people are created equal. They saw the large discrepancy in educational outcomes between white students and students of color in public schools, and knew better was possible. This “achievement gap” is not only a stain on America’s education system but a root cause of countless other social ills, and our founders believed school choice would help eradicate it.

The founders were therefore intentional in establishing ACE support as a need-based scholarship, not a merit-based scholarship. They believed that families with financial need should have equal access to quality private K-12 options to help level the playing field throughout society. The founders did not place additional academic or other requirements on the family, above and beyond whatever requirements their school of choice has in place in order to further this vision. This vision paved the way for ACE to enter tax-credit states in later years (Louisiana and Kansas, currently), as all publicly funded tax-credit programs nationally are need-based.

Alex Cranberg said, “ACE serves as a reproach that demographics are your destiny, that if you’re poor that it explains your likely output in life.” John Walton, founder of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, declared “educational choice is the last great civil rights issue of our time.”

Our Leadership

CEO
Norton Rainey

Read More

President
Jason DiFraia

Read More

Chief Marketing Officer
Kristy Badger

Read More

Chief Development Officer
Erik Billinger

Read More

VP of Scholarship Programs
Kristen Eastwood

Read More

Chief Program Officer
Jeff Ehmann

Read More

VP of ACE Services
Jackie Guglielmo

Read More

Chief Technology Officer
Mark McLaughlin

Read More

Chief Financial Officer
Mike Pritchard

Read More

ACE Founders

ACE Scholarships was founded in 2000 by Alex Cranberg, Charlie Gallagher, Ralph Nagel, John Saeman and the late Ed McVaney and John Walton to provide low-income parents with the freedom to choose the K-12 schools that are best for their children.

The founders’ vision was powerful but simple: that all children have access to great schools. The founders’ commitment to launch ACE was formed through many years of frustration with a lack of reform within the public school system and unsuccessful legislative efforts to provide publicly funded vouchers to families for private school.

They were also keenly aware that low-income students lagged far behind students of other incomes and that overall, American students continued to fall further behind students in other countries.

Board of Directors

Chairman
Joe Smith

Partner, Bartlit Beck, LLC

Vice Chair
Lisa Walsh

Denver, CO

Treasurer
Scott McLean

Denver, CO

Secretary
Matt Turner

Managing Partner,
MorningStar Senior Living

Deborah Flora

Partner & Co-Founder, Lamplight Entertainment and Whetstone Media Group

Natasha Harris

Principal, Biegert Group, Inc.

Eric Koeplin

CEO, Alpha Principle

Rick Schmitz

Partner, SKS Ventures

Mike Ward

Owner, Mike Ward Automotive

Bert Williams

COO, Johnson Financial Group, LLC

Liz Wright

Denver, CO

26 Years of Impact

0%
Graduation Rate
$0
Million Delivered in Scholarships & ESAs
0
States and Counting

See ACE in Action