Special-needs private schools in the Valley and how the ESA pays for them

A deep bench of specialist schools

The Phoenix area has more special-education private schools than most metros its size. Our directory includes autism-focused academies with campuses in Glendale, Tempe, Gilbert, Scottsdale and Goodyear, schools for deaf and blind children in central Phoenix, learning-differences schools such as New Way Academy and The Jones-Gordon School, and therapeutic programs serving older students. Several run multiple campuses, so a family in Surprise and a family in Chandler may be choosing between branches of the same school.

How the disability ESA amount is set

ADE pays a higher ESA for a student whose evaluation places them in a disability category. On the 2025-26 (ADE estimate; the 2026-27 chart isn't posted yet) chart, a 504 plan sits near the base range, learning disabilities and speech-language impairment run about $8,400 to $12,000, and autism, multiple disabilities and severe intellectual disability run roughly $34,000 to $47,700. Kindergartners in most categories receive half. These ranges are estimates and your award letter governs.

Getting the right paperwork from your district

ADE needs a current IEP, MET/evaluation report or 504 plan from an Arizona public school (or an independent educational evaluation) on file when you apply. If your child has not been evaluated, request one in writing from the district that serves your address before you withdraw. The category on that paperwork drives the dollar amount, so read it carefully and ask the district to correct anything that does not match your child's needs.

Therapies, aides and devices

The account can pay licensed or accredited therapists, including the portion insurance does not cover, a licensed aide or paraprofessional, further evaluations, braille and assistive-technology rentals. Students who qualified through a disability can use a ClassWallet debit card, though receipts must be uploaded on time or the card is switched off after 20 transactions. Many Valley families combine a specialist school's tuition with outside speech or occupational therapy paid from the same account.

Corporate STO help for students with disabilities

Families who decide against the ESA can look at disabled/displaced corporate STO scholarships, which serve students with an Arizona public-school MET, IEP or 504 plan and are capped statewide at $6 million a year. They cannot be combined with the ESA for the same year, and total awards are limited to 90 percent of state aid or tuition, whichever is less.

Visiting schools

Ask each school which needs it is staffed for, its ratio of students to adults, how it uses your child's IEP, and how it reports progress. Ask whether it bills ClassWallet directly and whether therapy delivered on campus is invoiced separately. The school list below shows every Valley school we tagged with a special-education focus.

Valley schools with a special-education focus (42)

* Enrollment reported to the NCES Private School Survey (2023-24 or 2021-22). "STO lists" counts the School Tuition Organizations whose published school list included the school (Oct 2026). Arizona has no state list of ESA schools; ask each school whether it accepts ESA payments through ClassWallet.

Next step

Ready to find out which funding fits? Take the short funding check and a School Funding Advisor will call to go over the ESA, STO and school-aid options for your child, with the dates that matter.

Start the funding check →