PHOENIX — According to the latest quarterly report, 74,578 students are participating in Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program.
It’s the first quarterly report in the program's history to show a decline in number of participants. Earlier this summer the Department of Education informed ABC15 that the drop was partially due to dual enrollments in the ESA program and public school as households typically transition to and from the ESA program around the end of Arizona’s school year in May and June.
Although the quarterly report shows a decline, the number of current active enrollees is about 2,000 students higher than the report shows. The Department of Education updates the number of ESA enrollees each week on their website and the count updated on September 9 shows 76,573 students. Because of this, an increase in the number of enrollees on the next quarterly report should be expected.
So far this year, the number of ESA enrollees previously enrolled in the public school system is making up a larger share. Last school year when the Universal ESA program was growing at a much faster pace, only one in five ESA enrollees were previously enrolled in public school. Meaning there was no budget offset for four in five of the new ESA enrollees. This year, just under half of new enrollees are previous public school students.
ESA accounts have spent about $525 million in 2024. A little under a third of that, $163 million, was spent in this most recent fiscal fourth quarter from April to June.
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Students are spending the most on tuition, textbooks, and fees. This expenditure category has seen the most amount of money spent in it for the past two quarters, indicating that more universal ESA participants are likely now enrolled in private schools compared to homeschooling programs. Over $86 million was spent on tuition, textbooks, and fees according to the Arizona Department of Education.
The next largest category of spending was $18 million for supplemental materials. This is a more controversial category since expenses here can range from pens and pencils up to a $3,400 transaction at a golf store or tickets to Arizona Snowbowl.
Rounding out the top five categories are tutoring services, online learning platforms such as OutSchool, and computer hardware.
