The Arizona education guide

By Stacy Mantle
Mail

Krystal Gable said she pulled her sons from public school as they entered third and fourth grades after they both struggled significantly with reading.

Despite receiving As and Bs and attending a school reading lab, she estimated both were reading at roughly a kindergarten level. Gable said she repeatedly sought an individualized education program, or IEP, evaluation for her older son before deciding to educate both boys at home.

"I realized that in order for them to be successful I was going to have to take the steps myself to get them where they needed to be," Gable said.

She said the family spent much of its first year focused on reading and saw significant improvement. 

It’s a story many families participating in Arizona’s empowerment scholarship account program are sharing. As enrollment has grown, however, the debate has shifted beyond who benefits from ESAs to broader questions about the program’s cost, accountability and oversight.

To examine those questions, Independent Newsmedia has joined the Arizona Media Association and 13 other newsrooms in a statewide reporting collaboration. These reporters, funded by the Arizona Local News Foundation and Report for America, are taking a closer look at two major issues facing Arizona education: the rapidly expanding Empowerment Scholarship Account program and the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers. 

Arizona's education landscape

Arizona has one of the most diverse education systems in the nation.

Each educational model operates under different funding structures, accountability requirements and state regulations. Some students spend their entire academic careers in one setting. Others move between multiple educational models as their needs change.

As school choice expands in Arizona and nationwide, understanding how each option works — and how it is funded — has become important for families and taxpayers. With education-related propositions and legislation shaping Arizona's future, understanding where taxpayer dollars go and what accountability comes with that funding is essential.

Today's Arizona families can choose from:

• District public schools
• Charter schools
• Private schools
• Homeschooling
• Microschools
• Hybrid learning programs
• Online schools
• ESA-funded education models
• Tax-credit scholarship programs

Understanding those differences helps explain many policy debates taking place at the Legislature and in local communities, as each option is funded differently and operates under different rules.

District public schools

District schools are governed by locally elected school boards and funded through state, local and federal revenue, including local property taxes and voter-approved bonds and overrides. They must administer state assessments, provide required special education services and comply with state and federal accountability and transparency requirements.

Charter schools

Charter schools are public schools funded primarily through state and federal dollars. They cannot charge tuition and must administer state assessments, but unlike district schools, they generally do not receive local property-tax revenue or voter-approved bond funding. They are governed by charter-holder boards rather than locally elected school boards.

Private schools

Private schools operate independently of the public-school system and establish their own admissions policies, curriculum and tuition. Families may pay tuition out of pocket or use ESA funds, tax-credit scholarships or other financial assistance, although ESA funds cannot reimburse an expense already paid by another source.

What is an ESA?

Arizona created its ESA program in 2011, initially for students with disabilities, making it the first education savings account program of its kind in the country. Eligibility expanded to additional groups during the following decade before lawmakers opened the program to all K-12 students in 2022. Students with disabilities remain an important part of the program even as enrollment has grown.

More than 101,000 students are now enrolled in Arizona's ESA program, which is expected to distribute more than $1 billion in state funding during the current fiscal year.

An ESA is a state-funded account administered by the ADE that families can use for approved educational expenses, including private-school or microschool tuition, curriculum, tutoring, therapies, online courses, testing and educational technology.

Most general-education ESA students receive roughly $7,000 to $10,500 annually, while students with disabilities may receive significantly larger awards depending on disability category, grade level and other funding factors.

For 2025-26, ADE estimated annual awards of $34,121 to $47,725 for some students with autism, multiple disabilities or severe intellectual disabilities.

State Superintendent Tom Horne, a longtime ESA supporter, has called enrollment growth "a remarkable endorsement of the value of the ESA program," arguing parents should be able to choose a different setting when a child's needs aren't being met.

However, public schools also retain an important responsibility for students with disabilities through a federal requirement known as "Child Find." Districts must identify, locate and evaluate children who may need special education services within their area of responsibility, including some students attending private schools or being educated at home.

Not all ESA families use the program the same way

ESA families can use approved funds for private school or microschool tuition, curriculum, online programs, tutoring, therapies and other educational services.

Some ESA families educate their children primarily at home, but that is legally distinct from traditional homeschooling in Arizona.

Traditional homeschool families operate independently and pay their own educational expenses.

ESA families who educate at home receive state funding under a contract with the Arizona Department of Education and must follow program rules, including using at least some funding to provide instruction in reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science and limiting spending to approved educational expenses.

Microschools and hybrid programs

Arizona's ESA expansion has coincided with growth in microschools and hybrid learning environments, many of which accept ESA funding. Many privately operated microschools do not receive direct state operating funds and instead charge tuition, which families may pay using ESA funds when the provider and expense qualify under program rules. Microschools are typically smaller than traditional schools, highly personalizes, much more flexible in scheduling and designed around specific educational approaches.

Students with disabilities

Arizona's original ESA program primarily served students with disabilities. Many families continue using ESA funds for speech and occupational therapies, behavioral services, adaptive technology, specialized curriculum and individualized instruction. 

For these families, ESA participation often functions as an educational support program rather than a school-choice program.

How ESA funding works

ESA awards are deposited into a family-controlled account. For students leaving a district or charter school, that represents education funding that otherwise would have supported the student's public-school enrollment. For students already attending private school or receiving home-based education, ESA participation can instead create a new state expenditure.

For students leaving district or charter schools, ESA funding replaces approximately 90% of the state funding that otherwise would have supported their public-school enrollment. For students already attending private school or receiving home-based education, however, ESA participation can create a new state expense.

That distinction is at the heart of Arizona's ESA debate. Supporters argue education funding should follow students to the setting families choose. Critics point to the program's growing cost and argue taxpayers should expect greater accountability for public dollars.

Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia has argued for tighter controls, saying voters want "real voucher reform" as lawmakers confront the program's cost and state budget pressures.

ESA students receive an annual award based on Arizona's education funding formula, which traditionally do not include local property tax funding, bond or override dfunds, federal funding (such as Title I or IDEA) or school meal funding. 

Tax-credit scholarships

Arizona's school tuition organizations, or STOs, should not be confused with scholarship granting organizations, or SGOs, which are part of the new federal tax-credit program beginning in 2027.

STOs are also separate from ESAs. Rather than receiving state education funds through an ESA, individuals and corporations donate to certified nonprofit school tuition organizations and receive state income-tax credits. The STOs then award scholarships to eligible students attending qualified private schools.

Arizona has two individual tax credits — Original and Switcher — and two corporate programs for low-income and disabled or displaced students.

Unlike ESAs, the state does not deposit education funding into a family-controlled account. STO scholarships originate with private donations for which taxpayers receive credits reducing their state tax liability.

Why the debate continues

Supporters of ESAs argue that education funding should follow students and allow families to choose the learning environment that best meets their needs.

“The ESA program is popular and gives parents the opportunity to choose the best education for their children,” Horne said in June while calling for additional staffing for the growing program.

Critics argue rapid ESA growth increases state costs and puts additional pressure on public-school funding. Save Our Schools Arizona, which advocates for restrictions on universal ESAs, argues that “every new universal ESA voucher subtracts funding from our local public schools.”

Another point of debate is whether ESA recipients previously attended public schools.

ADE data show 21% of universal-eligibility students entering the program in fiscal year 2023 and 47.6% in fiscal year 2024 had attended an Arizona public school immediately before receiving an ESA.

That distinction matters to the program's cost. When a student leaves a public school for an ESA, state funding that would have supported that student's public-school enrollment can instead fund the ESA. When a student already attending private school or being educated at home begins receiving an ESA, the award can represent a new expense to the state.

Gov. Katie Hobbs has cited the program's costs in calling universal ESAs “unsustainable” and arguing the program “does not save taxpayer money.”

The numbers have fueled debate over whether taxpayers should fund educational choices that families were already making.

Save Our Schools Arizona Executive Director Beth Lewis said in June the program is “primarily going to wealthier families that are using the program as an entitlement for private school that they could already afford.”

Supporters reject that argument.

“Their parents pay taxes too,” said Matt Ladner, a fellow at EdChoice. “Everyone pays into the system, and everyone with a child should be entitled to an equitable share.”

Questions about accountability remain central to the debate. District and charter schools operate under public oversight requirements, while private schools, traditional homeschools and ESA-funded educational settings operate under completely different regulatory frameworks.

Looking ahead

Arizona's education landscape continues to evolve and Arizona voters could also weigh competing ESA measures in November.

Proposition 212, the citizen-led Protect Education Act, would impose new eligibility, spending, testing and oversight requirements on universal ESAs. HCR 2048, referred to voters by the Legislature, would constitutionally protect qualifying scholarship accounts for children of military families and contains language that could invalidate an entire voter-approved measure if it conflicts with that protection.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit will allow individual taxpayers to claim a nonrefundable federal credit of up to $1,700 for qualifying donations to scholarship granting organizations, or SGOs. States must elect to participate, and as of August 2026, Arizona had not opted into the program.

Hobbs vetoed two legislative attempts to opt Arizona in during 2026, citing concerns about oversight and the lack of final federal guidance.

“We have seen what happens when these types of programs lack accountability, transparency, and oversight,” Hobbs wrote in her April veto of SB 1142.

Whether families choose district schools, charter schools, private schools, homeschooling or ESA-funded alternatives, Arizona's education system increasingly offers multiple pathways to learning.

The challenge for policymakers will be balancing educational freedom, accountability, transparency and funding as those options continue to grow.

Editor’s note:  A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter

smantle@iniusa.org

Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.

Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.

Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!

Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.

Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.