Arizona

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts

  • Education Savings Account (ESA)
  • Enacted 2011
  • Launched 2011

Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program allows families to use a portion of their public funding deposited into an account with defined, but multiple uses, including private school tuition, online education, private tutoring, or future educational expenses.

We do not administer this program.

Eligibility Test Apply

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  • 83,032

    Participating Students (2024–2025)

  • 100%

    Students Eligible Statewide

  • 6,075

    Approved Class Wallet Vendors (2024)

  • 90%

    Maximum Account Value as a Percentage of State-Level Public School Per-Student Spending

  • $9,572

    Average Account Value (2024–2025, including students with special needs) (2022–23, including students with special needs)

  • $7,409

    Median Account Value (2023–2024, excluding students with special needs)

Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Participation

Students Participating
School Year Ending
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Student Funding

Use of Funds

ESA funds can be used for approved expenses in the following categories: tuition and/or fees at a qualified school and required textbooks at a qualified school; tutoring and teaching services; curricula and supplementary material; fees to manage the account; tuition or fees for a nonpublic online learning program; fees for nationally norm-referenced testing and grade level testing; tuition and/or fees at an eligible postsecondary institution and the purchase of required textbooks; services provided by a public school; uniforms; transportation services; and computer hardware and technological devices.

Funding Amount and Source

ESAs are funded from state aid for schools at 90% of the state’s per-pupil base funding and any additional assistance that would apply if the student were enrolled in a charter school. Funding amounts vary depending on any special needs or required accommodation. Students with a current IEP, MET, or 504 plan are eligible to receive additional funding based on their IEP/MET eligibility category. The scholarship is distributed throughout the year over four quarters. State estimates project that typical ESA students will receive between $7,000 and $8,000 annually as of 2024–2025, but students with special needs receive significantly more. Because many ESA students have special needs, the average ESA in 2024–2025 is more than the statewide per-pupil average base funding amount. Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are funded through Arizona’s education funding formula, and any Arizona student who wishes to participate may receive funding.

(Last updated July 15, 2024) 

Student Eligibility

Universality

All students living within the state and eligible to enroll in a public school in Arizona are eligible for an Arizona Empower Scholarship Account. Students may participate in grades K–12. Additionally, preschool children with a with a Multidisciplinary Education Team (MET) Evaluation Report, Individualized Education Program (IEP), or 504 plan are also eligible for participation in the program. Students may not participate in the ESA program if they receive scholarships from state tuition tax credit programs.

(Last updated July 15, 2024)

EdChoice Expert Feedback

Arizona’s ESA program is now the most expansive program in the nation. The bar for universal student access to educational opportunity has been set for other states to follow.   All K-12 students are eligible to receive an ESA, along with pre-K students with disabilities. Every Arizona student is eligible to receive an ESA, though Arizona students may not concurrently receive ESA funding and financial assistance via the state’s tuition tax credit programs.  Statewide, recipients participating in one of Arizona’s private educational choice options (including the universal-eligibility Original Individual-Donor Tax-Credit Scholarship Program, the Low-Income Corporate-Donor Tax-Credit Scholarship Program, “Switcher” Tax-Credit Scholarship Program and Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax-Credit Scholarship Program) represent about seven percent of the state’s enrollment.   ESAs are funded at 90 percent of the state’s per-pupil base funding. State estimates project that typical ESA students will receive about $7,000 annually as of 2022-2023, but students with special needs receive significantly more. Funding amounts vary based on the types of special needs.  Arizona’s ESA program generally avoids unnecessary and counterproductive regulations.   (Last updated December 18, 2023) 

Rules and Regulations

Program Guidelines

  • Income Limit: None
  • Prior Year Public School Requirement: None
  • Enrollment Cap: None
  • Account Cap: Approximately 100%/90% Charter/District Funding
  • Testing Mandate: None
  • Budget Cap: None
  • Special Needs Pathway: Universal/Priority
  • Homeschool Compatibility: Compatible

Participant and Family Guidelines

Click Here for the Program Administrator’s Parent Handbook

  • Education Requirements: Ensure participating students receives an education in the subjects of reading and grammar, mathematics, social studies and science
  • Parent Supplemented Funds/Scholarships: Allowed
  • Reimbursement Allowed: Conditional
  • Miscellaneous:
    • Not accept a scholarship under Arizona’s tax-credit scholarship programs
    • Use ESA funds for purposes specified in law and spend accumulated funds on basic education subjects
    • Not enroll participating student in a district or charter school
    • Release district school from any and all obligations to educate participating student
    • ESAs subject to audits

Education Provider Guidelines

  • Accreditation/Approval: State, regional, or national
  • Employment Standards:
    • Fingerprinting of all staff and teachers who have unsupervised contact with students
    • For paraprofessionals: Have an associate/higher degree, 60 or more college credit hours from an accredited school, or pass one of the three paraprofessional tests
  • Nondiscrimination: State and federal
  • Calendar/Curriculum/Attendance: Complete course of study for content/grade
  • Financial: N/A
  • Miscellaneous: N/A

(Last updated December 12, 2024)

Governing Statutes

Ariz. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-2401 through 2404

(Last updated July 15, 2024)