Arizona’s Universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program is a hot-button issue.
Proponents say it allows parents of all income backgrounds to educate their child as they see fit while opponents say it is a cash giveaway to families already wealthy enough to send their kids to private schools.
This begs the question; do ESA awards benefit students from wealthier areas of Arizona?
ABC15 analyzed the data in the most recent ESA quarterly report and found, as is often the case with statistics, that the answer is both yes and no.
ESA award data by zip codes was combined with the most recent American Community Survey data for 2023. According to the data, the largest single income category of students receiving ESA awards in Arizona comes from zip codes with a median income between $100,000 to $150,000 annually. In total, the distribution of ESA students favors more moderate to upper-middle-income zip codes where households may earn from $50,000 to $150,000.
But the under-18 population is also far greater in moderate-income zip codes.
When student populations are adjusted to the ESA student population for every 1,000 minors, the results are very different. More ESA awards are disproportionately found in the state’s wealthiest zip codes.
Areas where the median household earns over $150,000 have a rate of 86 ESA students for every 1,000 minors living there. The rate in zip codes with a median of $50,000 to $75,000 falls to fourth with 38 per 1,000.
The proportion of new awards granted in the past year tends to come from more middle-class zip codes. The highest rates of incoming students are in zip codes earning a median between $75,000 and $150,000.
The zip code with the highest ESA student rate is also the state’s wealthiest.
Paradise Valley’s 85253 has 248 ESA students for every 1,000 minors. The zip code with the next highest rate of ESA students is found in Colorado City in northern Arizona.
Check the ESA rate of your zip code below:
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
