Arizona's preschool ESA is for disability only. A child must be at least three, or within 90 days of turning three, and not yet old enough for kindergarten, and the family needs a current MET/evaluation report, IEP or 504 plan from an Arizona public school. Private evaluations and private-school plans are not accepted for this category, and the 45-day public-school rule does not apply.
Most Valley families get there through their school district's preschool evaluation. If your district has evaluated your child for a preschool special-education program, that paperwork is what ADE wants.
Only the preschool severe delay category is funded at the full chart figure before age five, about $13,261 to $14,223 on the 2025-26 (ADE estimate; the 2026-27 chart isn't posted yet) chart. Other categories are paid at half the listed amount until first grade.
Statewide, 1,420 preschool children held these accounts in the April-June 2026 quarter. Families use the money for preschool tuition and for speech, occupational and behavioral therapy, which can be a better fit than a district preschool slot for some children.
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.