Before Arizona's ESA was universal it was a disability program, and that history still shows in the money. ADE's 2025-26 (ADE estimate; the 2026-27 chart isn't posted yet) chart gives a 504-plan student $7,105–$10,540-level funding, but a student in the autism, multiple-disability or severe-intellectual category can receive roughly $34,000 to $47,725, and the hearing, visual, orthopedic and moderate-intellectual categories run from about $21,800 to $41,300. Kindergartners in most categories get half.
The category comes from paperwork you already have or can request: a current IEP, MET/evaluation report or 504 plan from an Arizona public school, or an independent educational evaluation. In the Valley that usually means asking your home district (Mesa, Chandler, Deer Valley, Dysart or whichever serves your address) for an evaluation before you withdraw. Private-school learning plans do not count on their own.
Statewide, about one in five ESA students has a disability, and more than 11,000 have autism. That demand helps explain why Phoenix has so many specialist campuses: autism academies in Glendale, Tempe, Gilbert, Scottsdale and Goodyear, schools for deaf and blind children in central Phoenix, and learning-differences schools across the East Valley.
Beyond tuition, the account can pay licensed therapists (including the part insurance leaves), a paraprofessional or aide, evaluations, braille and assistive-technology rentals. Students who qualified through a disability can also get a ClassWallet debit card. Once a child qualifies, eligibility carries through high school even if later evaluations change.
Special-needs schools and funding
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.