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Beyond Tuition: How Arizona Families Are Redefining ESA Spending

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Beyond Tuition: How Arizona Families Are Redefining ESA Spending
Language: English
Authors: Susan Pendergrass, EdChoice
Source: EdChoice. 2025.
Availability: EdChoice. 111 Monument Circle Suite 2650, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Tel: 317-681-0745; e-mail: info@edchoice.org; Web site: http://www.edchoice.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 14
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Descriptors: School Choice, Elementary Secondary Education, Educational Vouchers, Parents, Money Management, Tuition, Scholarships, Public Schools, Private Schools, Tutoring, Electronic Learning, Educational Finance, Fees, Student Costs, Enrollment Rate, Expenditure per Student, Educational Policy, Extracurricular Activities, Student Needs
Geographic Terms: Arizona
Abstract: Arizona has been on the leading edge of the school choice movement. The Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program was authorized in 2011. Initially, the program allowed parents of students with disabilities to receive 90% of what the state would have spent to educate the child in the public school system. The funds could then be used for private school tuition, educational therapies, tutoring, or other approved educational expenses. Just one year after the program's inception, eligibility was expanded to active-duty military families, foster children and parents with children in public schools rated "D" or "F" by the state. In 2013, the Friedman Foundation for Education Choice (now known as EdChoice) published an early look at the Arizona ESA program. The goal was to understand how families were using their scholarship dollars. Much has changed in the last decade. In addition to the expanded eligibility in 2012, Native American students living on reservations could apply for scholarships. In 2022, the program became truly revolutionary when eligibility was extended to all K-12 students, regardless of circumstance. As the first state to do this, Arizona once again became a pioneer in shifting the institutional structure of elementary and secondary education from one of strict residential assignment to a school built, operated, and funded by the government to one that is publicly funded, but parent directed. This analysis will update the data to reflect 2013 and 2016. Of course, the program has changed significantly since its inception and comparisons between the first years of a very limited program to two years of a universal program must be carefully considered. Nonetheless, a deeper dive into how families are spending their money in the first two years of universal choice is a necessary and interesting venture, particularly as more than a dozen states have added similar programs since Arizona's became universal.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: ED677218
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Arizona has been on the leading edge of the school choice movement. The Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program was authorized in 2011. Initially, the program allowed parents of students with disabilities to receive 90% of what the state would have spent to educate the child in the public school system. The funds could then be used for private school tuition, educational therapies, tutoring, or other approved educational expenses. Just one year after the program's inception, eligibility was expanded to active-duty military families, foster children and parents with children in public schools rated "D" or "F" by the state. In 2013, the Friedman Foundation for Education Choice (now known as EdChoice) published an early look at the Arizona ESA program. The goal was to understand how families were using their scholarship dollars. Much has changed in the last decade. In addition to the expanded eligibility in 2012, Native American students living on reservations could apply for scholarships. In 2022, the program became truly revolutionary when eligibility was extended to all K-12 students, regardless of circumstance. As the first state to do this, Arizona once again became a pioneer in shifting the institutional structure of elementary and secondary education from one of strict residential assignment to a school built, operated, and funded by the government to one that is publicly funded, but parent directed. This analysis will update the data to reflect 2013 and 2016. Of course, the program has changed significantly since its inception and comparisons between the first years of a very limited program to two years of a universal program must be carefully considered. Nonetheless, a deeper dive into how families are spending their money in the first two years of universal choice is a necessary and interesting venture, particularly as more than a dozen states have added similar programs since Arizona's became universal.