Arizona opened the country's first education savings account in 2011 for students with disabilities, and the Legislature made it universal for the 2022-23 school year. Today any Arizona child who could enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 can apply. In Maricopa and Pinal counties that means a family in Laveen, Litchfield Park or Queen Creek has exactly the same entitlement as one in Arcadia: income does not matter, and nobody has to have attended a public school first.
The money is not a flat voucher. ADE calculates it as 90 percent of what the state would send a charter school for the same child, so the figure moves with grade level and with extra weights such as K-3 reading or English-learner status. ADE's most recent chart, the 2025-26 (ADE estimate; the 2026-27 chart isn't posted yet) version, shows $4,718–$6,205 for kindergarten and $7,105–$10,540 for grades 1 through 12. ADE has not posted a 2026-27 chart yet, so treat any single 2026-27 dollar figure you see quoted as unofficial.
Deposits land four times a year, usually between the 15th and the end of July, October, January and April. You spend through ClassWallet: a private school registered as a vendor sends an invoice and is paid directly, or you buy approved items from the marketplace or claim a reimbursement with a detailed invoice and proof of payment. Unspent money rolls forward, but some of it has to be used each year.
Applications are open all year at ADE's ESA portal. You will upload a color copy of the birth certificate plus a utility bill or similar document dated within 60 days that shows your Arizona street address. By statute, ADE owes you an award letter within 30 days of a complete file, and a new account takes about three weeks to fund. An application finished after March 31 is enrolled on or after July 1, which is why Valley families aiming for August starts tend to file in winter.
Two rules catch people out. First, the parent signs a yearly contract promising not to enroll the child in a district or charter school and not to take an STO scholarship for that child that year. Second, the state publishes no roster of schools taking ESA money, so ask the school whether it is set up in ClassWallet before you count on direct payment. Statewide, ADE counted 107,859 students enrolled for 2026-27 as of Oct 5, 2026.
Run the ESA vs. STO calculator What the ESA pays for
Combining it with other sources
This source works alongside a school's own discounts and payment plans. The one hard limit in Arizona is that a child cannot hold an ESA and an STO scholarship in the same school year, so each child goes down one path, and siblings may go down different ones. Our funding check lays out the choice for each child.