Arizona’s ESA Program: What It Is & What You Can Spend the Funds On

Arizona’s ESA Program: What It Is & What You Can Spend the Funds On

The Arizona ESA program is a practical way for families to access state funds that have been allocated towards the education of their child and repurpose them to cover private educational expenses.

To help you better understand how you can benefit from Arizona’s ESA program — including which schools are part of the program and how you can use the funds allotted to you — we put together this article, where we cover:

  • What is Arizona’s ESA program?
  • How it works
  • What you can spend the funds on

What is Arizona’s ESA Program?

In Arizona, ESA stands for “Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.” This program is similar to other ESA programs in different states, often referred to as Education Savings Accounts.

Arizona’s ESA program allows families to access up to 90% of the funds allotted for their children’s education at a public school (typically around $6k–9k) and put those towards qualified private educational expenses. This gives parents the right to choose how their tax dollars are spent on their child’s education.

Arizona’s ESA was originally created in 2011 and is the oldest program of its kind in the country. As of the time of writing, Arizona’s ESA is now the most expansive ESA nationwide, with over 83,032 students participating in the academic year 2024–2025.

Because eligibility for the program has expanded to include everyone living in Arizona, the program has experienced record growth over the last few years, as the following graph shows:

Arizona ESA participants over the years

Image source

Who is Eligible to Receive ESA Funding in Arizona?

When Arizona first started its ESA program in 2011, funds were strictly limited to Arizona students with disabilities.

The program has since grown significantly, and is now open to all students who live in Arizona, provided they are eligible to attend public school in the state. It doesn’t matter what your level of household income is, whether you educate your child at a private school or homeschool them, or where in the state you live.

Families who have children that are enrolled in public school can apply for ESA, but they cannot use ESA funds to pay for services offered by the public school their child is attending, because the goal of ESA is to pay for private education. This makes sense from the state’s perspective, as otherwise the state would pay for that child’s education twice: once through the public school and a second time through ESA.

How Much ESA Funding Can You Get in Arizona?

In 2023–24, the average amount each family received statewide was $9,782 per child. The average funding varies according to the age of the child being funded, with kindergarteners being eligible to receive around $4k–5k, and children in grades 1 and older receiving between $6k–$9k. In each case, this corresponds to around 90% of the funds allotted for that child’s education in a state public school.

Students with disabilities who meet eligibility requirements can access significantly higher funding amounts — up to $43k per year in some cases, until the age of 22. Typically, the more severe the disability, the greater the financial support available to families.

Consider that the average tuition for a private elementary school in Arizona is $9.6k, while the cost for a private high school in the state averages around $13.7k. In that context, receiving $6k–$9k goes a long way towards covering annual private school tuition costs — which explains why Arizona’s ESA has become so popular in recent years.

ESA funding is paid out quarterly. If your account is in good standing with ESA authorities, you can normally expect to receive the funds between the 15th and 30th of the first month of each quarter.

List of Approved ESA Expenses

You can find a full list of approved expenses in the ESA parent handbook. The biggest expense is tuition at a qualified school — you can find more information about qualified schools in the next section. Other allowable expenses include:

  • Credentialed tutoring services
  • ACT or SAT exams, or preparation for them
  • Post-secondary courses taken while the student is still in high school
  • School uniforms
  • Public transportation between a student’s home and a qualified school
  • Laptops and other computers that are to be used for educational purposes
  • Registration, enrollment or payment processing fees
  • Musical instruments
  • Textbooks and similar curriculum materials

In rare instances, ESA funds can be used for approved programs or extracurricular activities at a public school, but this typically applies only to schools that your child is not currently attending. Parents who choose this route should proceed with caution, as using ESA funds for unapproved programs at the school your child attends can lead to the suspension of your ESA account.

Whether public or private, any program that you pay for must be delivered in the same school year that it was paid for. Otherwise, it’s not an allowable expense. Other non-allowable expenses include:

  • Using one student’s ESA account to cover another student’s expenses
  • Entertainment
  • Devices that are not used for educational purposes
  • Video games or consoles
  • Home theaters
  • Audio equipment
  • Mobile phones

List of ESA-Approved Schools

Arizona ESA funds can be used for all sorts of private schooling options, including online schools and homeschooling.

The ESA program does not have an official list of schools. However, at the time of writing this article, there are 404 participating providers state-wide. Here is a list of some of the best schools by city.

Scottsdale and Gilbert: Fusion Academy

Fusion Academy homepage: The School That Changes Everything

Fusion Academy is an ESA-approved school with campuses in both Scottsdale and Gilbert, as well as around 80 other campuses nationwide.

Fusion is a private school that offers a fully personalized education, tailored to each student’s individual strengths and needs. Our classes are 1-to-1, meaning each class consists of one teacher and one student.

This learning environment is beneficial for all students, but particularly helpful for:

  • Students facing academic challenges: These students may struggle with school, and academic difficulties are often accompanied by issues like anxiety or depression. They may feel disconnected from school and approach their education with dread instead of enthusiasm.
  • Gifted students: Students who are highly gifted function best when teachers give them material that’s related to their interests and is challenging enough to engage them. This is much easier to do in a 1-to-1 class than in a class of 25 students.
  • Students with learning differences: Students with learning differences such as ADHD, dyslexia, sensory processing disorder and dyscalculia benefit because teachers can customize lessons to their preferences. For example: allowing a student with ADHD to work at a standing desk or go for a walk to recenter themselves.
  • Twice-exceptional students: These students excel in one area while facing difficulties in another. A one-on-one learning environment is ideal for them, as it can support their strengths and provide extra help in areas of difficulty.

Full-Time or Part-Time Classes

At Fusion, students can choose to enroll either full-time or part-time. We offer open enrollment, giving your family the flexibility to select a start date that best fits your needs.

When discussing enrollment with a new family, we schedule an interview with the Head of School to get to know the student’s needs in detail. We discuss what worked and what didn’t at the previous school, delve into any triggers the student may have, and figure out an education plan together.

For example:

  • Some families may decide to withdraw their child from a traditional school midway through the year or semester. Because Fusion offers 1-to-1 classes, we can easily set up a new class for your child that begins whenever you need.
  • If a student comes to us feeling overwhelmed, we may recommend starting part-time with subjects they are passionate about. As they gain confidence and feel more at ease, we can gradually transition them to full-time classes.
  • For students with busy schedules outside of school, such as athletes, artists, or those attending therapy sessions, we create personalized programs that accommodate their other commitments and plan classes that work around their schedule.

Depending on your specific situation, other programs that we might recommend include:

Remedial Classes

If a student is behind in math or literacy, it may be beneficial to use ESA funds to help them catch up with their peers. We offer remediation in both areas, as follows:

Our main reading intervention is called Reading Skills and Strategies, and combines self-study on an online platform with direct instruction from a teacher. The focus here is on improving word recognition, comprehension and grammar skills.

Our math intervention is based on machine learning software called ALEKS. The software learns what level each student is at, and then creates a personalized learning program for them. It’s engaging enough for students to want to use it at home in their own time. For best results, we combine use of ALEKS with direct instruction from a teacher, which helps keep students accountable.

Summer Programs

Fusion Academy Summer School Programs

Our summer programs provide an opportunity to catch up on the previous semester’s work — or get a head start on the next one. They’re also an enriching way to spend the summer break and connect with peers. Options include:

  • Over 300 accredited classes to choose from, in both core and elective subjects.
  • Private tutoring to fill learning gaps from the previous academic year.
  • A week-long summer camp for middle schoolers, which is engaging both socially and creatively.

Post-Secondary Counseling

Consider putting your ESA funds toward helping your child plan their future. Counselors at Fusion are experts in supporting students to figure out the right path after high school, whether that’s college, a gap year, employment, or something completely different.

This option is especially popular with juniors who are planning to attend college, but it’s no less beneficial for younger students who need support choosing the right extracurriculars to make their college application stand out.

Phoenix: Brophy College Preparatory

Brophy College Preparatory homepage

Brophy College Preparatory is a Jesuit high school for boys in Phoenix. The school’s curriculum is organized according to the principle of “cura personalis,” or care for the whole person, and combines liberal arts principles with Jesuit theology. Brophy is well-known locally for being an excellent place to prepare for college, with 33 AP classes available and 98% of graduates going on to attend a four-year college degree after graduation. In keeping with the school’s educational philosophy, Brophy sophomores and juniors also have to volunteer 40 hours of their time each year in order to graduate.

Outside the classroom, Brophy has won several accolades in the field of sport. The swim team has won 42 titles, 32 of which were consecutive, and has even produced several Olympic medalists. The school has also won 22 state tennis championships, and fields a rowing team at the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta. Finally, the #1 ranked esports team nationally is also based at Brophy.

Tucson: The Gregory School

The Gregory School homepage

The Gregory School is a non-sectarian middle and high school in Tucson. The school is known for being creative and entrepreneurial. It’s one of only a handful of schools across the country to have a Fab Lab — a makerspace that’s affiliated with MIT. There, students can use professional-grade equipment to complete projects, including 3D printers, laser cutters, circuit boards and programming tools. The Gregory School also has its own Entrepreneurial Institute, which teaches MBA-level programs to high-schoolers. Each Friday is given over to creative exploration, with projects including designing a hydroponic filtration system, helping senior citizens understand technology and contributing to a campus mural.

The school’s 35-acre campus in central Tucson comes with a huge range of amenities and facilities to cater to all sorts of different interests. These include a 370-seat theater, a 1000-seat gymnasium for basketball, a band room, extensive playing fields, and even a farmyard.

Tempe: Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel homepage

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a private Catholic elementary school in Tempe that’s known for the friendliness of its community and its rigorous academic tradition. The school’s Accelerated Reading program has been recognized nationally, and the fundamental curriculum in math, science, social studies, geography and Spanish is also well put together.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is somewhat unusual in making laptops, not books, the center of the classroom. Students in grades 6-8 are assigned a Chromebook for most of their class projects. Students in 4th and 5th grade use shared Chromebooks for selected assignments, such as online math lessons and research. Even students in kindergarten through 3rd grade have access to touchscreen Chromebooks in the school library.

Outside the classroom, the school also offers clubs in a variety of areas, including choir, chess, crafts, guitar and scouts.

Mesa: Redeemer Christian School

Redeemer Christian School homepage

Redeemer Christian School (RCS) is a private school in Mesa educating children aged K-12. RCS bases its curriculum on the classical model known as the trivium, which divides education into three stages: Grammar (K–6), Logic (7–8) and Rhetoric (9–12). Small class sizes and excellent teachers make this a place of academic rigor and critical thinking. RCS educates students from around the Phoenix metro area, but also attracts international students from as far afield as Norway, Brazil and Papua New Guinea.

This is a school with a strong sense of tradition outside the classroom as well as inside it. Students are invited to participate in history festivals, historical feast events, and period dances and balls. Regular community service projects and field trips help students feel like they’re part of the local area. RCS is also known for its patronage of the arts, with an accomplished brass band, regular music, and drama productions.

How Can You Access the ESA Funds?

Your funds won’t be paid out directly to your bank account. Instead, they will be visible in your state ESA account, from which they can then be put toward allowable expenses.

The financial management platform for the ESA program is called ClassWallet. It functions as an intermediary between users and the private educational products and services they want to buy with ESA funds. As of 2023, there were just under 4,000 approved vendors on ClassWallet. Invoices need to be uploaded to ClassWallet by the end of the month following the quarter in which the purchase was made.

In some cases, you’re required to pay upfront for certain educational expenses, and then ClassWallet reimburses you once you have provided sufficient documentation proving that this was a legitimate ESA expense. This happens most often when a vendor has agreed to accept orders by email, as opposed to integrating their payment system into the ClassWallet website.

Remember that you need to spend a portion of the ESA funds in the academic year in which they got approved — or else you risk losing the funding. That being said, the majority of the funds are eligible to roll over into the next year, so you don’t need to worry too much.

How and When Can You Apply for an Arizona ESA?

Families can apply for ESA funding at any time during the year by going to the ESA Applicant Portal, creating an account, and following the steps as directed.

You will typically be required to submit the student’s birth certificate along with a document verifying your residency within the state of Arizona. Note that PO boxes are not accepted; you must actually live in Arizona in order to qualify.

The sorts of documents that are accepted as proof of address include:

  • Driver’s license
  • ID card
  • Property deed
  • Mortgage documents
  • Property tax bill
  • Rental agreement
  • Utility bill
  • Bank statement

If your child has a disability, you will also be asked to provide evidence of an IEP, an MET or a 504 Plan. These are further accommodations that the state of Arizona makes for disabled children.

After your application has been processed, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) will send you an ESA contract to sign.

Once your account is open, you will not need to re-apply every year. Provided you’ve documented your expenses, spent at least a portion of the funds on core academic subjects like reading and math, and your account is in good standing, it will be renewed automatically.

How Can You Check on the Status of Your ESA Application?

Once you’ve submitted your ESA application, it will take up to 30 days to process. At that point, you’ll receive an email from ADE indicating their final decision.

Unfortunately, ADE doesn’t provide online updates during the decision-making process. But you can contact their ESA unit using the following details:

  • Phone: (602) 364-1969, Monday through Friday 8am – 8pm & Saturdays 8am – 12pm
  • Email: ESACallCenter@azed.gov

What Should You Do If Your ESA Application Is Unsuccessful?

If you live in Arizona and can provide evidence of that, there’s a high chance that your application will be successful. If your application is not accepted, contact the ESA team. Use the phone and email details from the previous paragraph, or alternatively contact them:

  • By HelpDesk ticket, inside the ESA portal itself
  • Or by mail, by writing to 1535 W. Jefferson Street, BIN #41 Phoenix, Arizona 85007

You can also try escalating the issue to a manager. To do this, call ADE’s Constituent Services at (602) 542-5393.

As a last resort, you can file an appeal with the State Board of Education. Appeal forms and details about the appeals process can be found here. If you have questions about the appeals process, reach out to ESAFeedback@azsbe.az.gov — but bear in mind that the State Board of Education won’t know exactly why your application was declined.

Discover the Best Way to Spend Arizona ESA Funds

Arizona’s ESA can be a powerful tool for your child’s education if you use it wisely. You just need to understand how the system works, how to apply for the funds, and what you can use them for.

Looking for a private school to spend the funds on? Schedule a visit to a Fusion Academy campus in Scottsdale or Gilbert and see if it’s a fit for your family. What have you got to lose?

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