Arizona Embraces Universal School Choice | City Journal
This July, Arizona became the first state to embrace universal school choice by enacting legislation that allows all students to participate in the state s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA). Approximately 12,000 students currently enroll in the ESA program, which deposits 90 percent of the state s share of per-pupil education funds about $7,000 per child into an account that parents can use for various educational costs. Qualified expenses include: private school tuition, micro-schooling, homeschooling, tutoring, and online classes. Previously, the ESA program limited student eligibility to, for example, kids with disabilities, children attending failing public schools, children of active-duty military parents, foster children, and siblings of current or former ESA participants. With the new law, an estimated 60,000 students currently enrolled in private schools and 38,000 homeschooled students are immediately eligible for ESA funding, and 1.1 million children attending district and charter schools have the option to get funding as well.